NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott is among the Scientific American 10 for 2009, described by the magazine in its June 2009 issue as "researchers, politicians, business executives and philanthropists who have recently demonstrated outstanding commitment to assuring that the benefits of new technologies and knowledge will accrue to humanity." The citation reads, in part:
Thomas Henry Huxley was the 19th-century biologist known as "Darwin's bulldog" for his defense of the great scientist's ideas. The 21st century has a counterpart in the woman who describes herself as "Darwin's golden retriever." Eugenie Scott has emerged as one of the most prominent advocates for keeping evolution an integral part of the curriculum in public schools in her role as head of the nonprofit National Center for Science Education (NCSE). ... With the ever changing semantics of antievolutionists, Darwin's golden retriever will have plenty more chances to act as a loyal defender of teaching evolution in the schools.Besides Scott, the Scientific American 10 for 2009 are Todd Brady of Intel, Shai Agassi of Better Place, Wafaa El-Sadr of Harlem Hospital Center, Robert J. Linhardt of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg, Bryan Willson of Colorado State University, Kristian Olson of the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, Andras Nagy of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, and President Barack Obama.