Zack Kopplin
NCSE is delighted to congratulate Zack Kopplin, recently named as the winner of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology's 2014 Howard K. Schachman Public Service Award.
In a March 24, 2014, press release, Jeremy Berg, president of the ASBMB and director of the University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Personalized Medicine, commented (PDF), "Zack has been a true champion of science education, which has become all the more important in these times where educational standards are being debated. ... Zack has tirelessly fought for the teaching of evolution in classrooms."
Among Kopplin's achievements is the launch of the campaign, now in its fourth incarnation as Senate Bill 175 (PDF), to repeal the so-called Louisiana Science Education Act of 2008. A sponsor of the LSEA told the Hammond Daily Star (April 6, 2008) that it was aimed at promoting the discussion of "scientific data related to creationism," and Governor Bobby Jindal told NBC News in 2013 that the LSEA permits the teaching of creationism.
Kopplin will receive the award in Washington DC on April 1, 2014. He previously received a Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award, the inaugural Troublemaker Award, and NCSE's Friend of Darwin award in 2012.