Frances Arnold ,Nobel prize winner in Chemistry is named into the board of Google’s  parent company Alphabet Inc  filling a vacancy left by the retirement of fellow academic Shirley Tilghman. Arnold, who manages a research group at the California Institute of Technology, will serve on the technology giant’s nominating and corporate governance committee. Alphabet said that she will receive an initial equity award of $1 million in the form of restricted stock units.

Arnold won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018 for pioneering science in enzymes and antibodies. Arnold, a professor of chemical engineering, bioengineering and biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology, becomes the third woman on Alphabet’s 11-person board. The appointment comes days after Google CEO Sundar Pichai proceeded  Larry Page as Alphabet CEO.

Alphabet is aggressively pushing into the renewable energy and health sectors, and needs professional credibility in those areas as it tries to beat back concerns about its trustworthiness in collecting and using personal data. The company has been investing in life sciences through its Verily affiliate, which is part of its ‘Other Bets.’

Arnold  is also an elected member of all three U.S. National Academies of Science, Medicine, and Engineering. She also serves on the boards of the biotech company Illumina, Inc. and the agriculture pest management company Provivi, Inc.

“I’ve long admired Alphabet’s commitment to technology and research, and to improving the lives of people around the world, and I’m excited to be a part of that,” Arnold said in a statement announcing her appointment.