NIH Remembers Beck
Dr. L. Tony Beck died of natural causes on April 7 while on the NIH campus. He was 78 years old.
He was on his way to the job that defined the later part of his career—the program director for the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) program. He also oversaw the STEM interactive digital media small business (SBIR/STTR) and the IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE) programs for the National Institute of General Medical Science.
Beck began his NIH career in 2000 as a scientific review officer at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). He moved to the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) and assumed responsibility for the SEPA program, continuing SEPA when it was later relocated to the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) in the Office of the Director (OD). While at NCRR, he also managed the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) and Human Embryonic Stem Cell Infrastructure programs.
Beck earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in biological sciences at the University of California, Riverside, and a Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology from the University of California, Irvine. He conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center and the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for Cancer Research.
Perhaps Beck’s most fulfilling role at NIH was his work in science education. He was devoted to SEPA—which supports pre-kindergarten through grade-12 educational activities in and outside the classroom in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). He developed expertise in effective approaches for K-12 STEM education and informal education activities to accelerate the learning of complex science concepts.
Beck is survived by his sister Bonnie, brother Michael, a niece and two nephews. Videos, along with scanned sympathy cards, and additional photos of Beck can be viewed at https://bit.ly/3EXfUZr. You can learn more about his contributions by visiting the NIGMS Feedback Loop Blog: https://go.nih.gov/GD65vfP.