The group is recognizing DiChristina as one of their “Three Wise Women” of 2009 for her contributions to science journalism and her leadership abilities.

“I feel honored and grateful to receive this prestigious award from the National Organization of Italian American Women, whose inspiring mentoring work has benefited so many,” said DiChristina, who will receive her award at the organization’s annual Epiphany celebration in New York tonight.

DiChristina was named editor-in-chief of Scientific American last month, becoming the first woman to lead the pub in its 164-year history.

Previously: Scientific American Names First Female Editor-in-Chief

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Biggest Move in Magazines: Stephen Adler leaving BusinessWeek.
When editor Stephen Adler announced his departure from BusinessWeek this October following the magazine’s sale to Bloomberg LP, he wasn’t just making a statement, he was starting a trend. Soon he was followed by some of his former colleagues, like John Byrne and BusinessWeek‘s president Keith Fox, who decided to stay with magazine’s original parent, McGraw-Hill. (Not to mention all of those who involuntarily left the pub not long after.) It takes a lot of chutzpah to up and quit your editor gig in the middle of this turbulent media landscape, it takes even more to get your coworkers to come with you. Fortunately for Adler, he’s already landed another gig at Thomson Reuters.

Runners Up: Time.com managing editor Josh Tyrangiel comes on board as editor at Businessweek; Marie Claire‘s publisher Susan Plagemann joins Vogue; Nancy Berger Cardone of shuttered Gourmet takes Plagemann’s spot at Marie Claire; Janice Min leaves Us Weekly; Mariette DiChristina becomes Scientific American‘s first female editor-in-chief.

More after the jump

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DiChristina, who joined the magazine in 2001 as executive editor, has been serving as acting editor-in-chief since her predecessor, John Rennie, left in June. Although she admits to feeling a sense of responsibility as the venerable mag’s first female leader, DiChristina seemed humbled by our sense of awe in her accomplishments.

“I have two young daughters; one of them wants to be a scientist, and the other one wants to be the editor of Scientific American,” she told FishbowlNY. “I think anybody who is a position of leadership should feel a sense of responsibility. And I don’t know if mine is any greater or less because I’m a first for the magazine. I know I’m very honored and grateful.”

DiChristina, who has worked in science journalism for over 20 years, also downplayed the experience of working as acting editor for the past few months. When we asked if it had been a “trial period” of sorts, she said, “In a sense, every magazine editor, every publication editor, is there to please the readers. Every article I do, every story I put out, is always a trial. Every editor who is working should be living in terror that they are not pleasing their readers. In that sense, the last several months was a trial in the way any day in the office is a trial.”

In her new role, DiChristina will oversee Scientific American as well as Scientific American Mind, a bimonthly magazine that focuses on the brain and behavior that she herself helped launch. Before joining Scientific American, DiChristina worked for nearly 14 years on the edit staff at Popular Science, working her way up to executive editor there. She is also the president of the National Association of Science Writers.

Full release after the jump

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.