From 1968 to 1982, Cozzarelli was a professor at the
University of Chicago where he studied
topoisomerases. In 1982 he joined the faculty at
University of California, Berkeley. In 1995, Cozzarelli was named as the
editor-in-chief of the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and served in this role from 1995 to 2006. He took the position because he felt that the journal had great unrealized potential. During his tenure, he expanded the
editorial board from 26 to more than 140 and created a second track to allow scientists who were not members of the National Academy of Sciences to submit manuscripts directly.
DNA Francis Crick wrote in his book
What Mad Pursuit: == Awards and honors ==