Dr. Cora Marrett was appointed acting deputy director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), effective Jan. 18, 2009.

Marrett had been the assistant director for the Education and Human Resources (EHR), a position she held from February 2007 until becoming acting deputy director. She led NSF's mission to achieve excellence in U.S. science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education at all levels and in both formal and informal settings. Earlier, from 1992-1996, Marrett was NSF's assistant director for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE).

Prior to returning to NSF in 2007, Marrett served as the University of Wisconsin's senior vice president for academic affairs for six years. Before that, she served as senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst for four years.

Marrett holds a Bachelor of Arts from Virginia Union University, and Master of Arts and a doctorate from UW-Madison, all in Sociology. She received an honorary doctorate from Wake Forest University in 1996, and was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1998 and the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1996.