Dr. Elmer “Bill” William Colglazier Jr. graduated from Alamo Heights High School in 1962. Among his many endeavors were the National Honor Society, Student Council, Math Club, and Physics Club. He was a National Merit Scholar and was awarded Best All-Around Boy.
Bill majored in Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology, where he earned both his Bachelor of Science and his PhD. His post-doctoral positions include the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, the Institute for Advanced Study, and the European Organization for Nuclear Research. He was also an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Congressional Science Fellow and joined the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. While there, he served as Associate Director of the Aspen Institute’s program in Science, Technology, and Humanism. While a professor at the University of Tennessee, Bill was appointed to the international office of the National Academy of Sciences where he oversaw research reports to advise national policy. Upon retiring, he served as the Science and Technology Advisor to the Secretary of State, traveling around the world to build scientific collaboration and advance diplomacy. In 2016, Bill was co-chair of an advisory group appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General to achieve the sustainability goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.
Bill currently serves on the International Advisory Board of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Board of Management of the Cosmos Club of Washington DC, the Science and Technology for Sustainability Roundtable, the American Physical Society (APS), co-chairs the Global Science Diplomacy Roundtable, and is a Fellow of the International Science Council. He has received the National Academies President’s Award, the APS Joseph A. Burton Forum Award, and the Order of the Rising Sun from the Government of Japan. He continues to work for the AAAS as a part-time Senior Scholar and Editor-in-Chief of Science and Diplomacy.
Bill is married and he and his wife Catherine have two children, Geraldine Tunnell and Will Colglazier. Bill’s father, Elmer, brother, John, sister-in-law, Peggy, niece, Elizabeth Colglazier Boddy, and nephew, John Colglazier Jr., are also AHHS alumni.