AAS Members Elected to American Academy of Arts & Sciences

This item is adapted from an American Academy of Arts & Sciences press release:

Some of the world’s most accomplished leaders from academia, business, public affairs, the humanities, and the arts have been elected members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Astronomers and planetary scientists among the new class:

• Alexei V. Filippenko, Professor of Astronomy; Richard & Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor in the Physical Sciences, University of California, Berkeley;
• Eugenia Kalnay, Distinguished University Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science; Eugenia Brin Professor of Data Assimilation, University of Maryland;
• Victoria M. Kaspi, Professor of Physics; Associate Dean, Research & Graduate Education, McGill University, Montreal, Canada;
• Renu Malhotra, Professor of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona; and
• Neil deGrasse Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director, Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural History

One of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies, the American Academy is also a leading center for independent policy research. Members contribute to Academy publications and studies of science and technology policy, global security and international affairs, social policy and American institutions, and the humanities, arts, and education.

Members of the 2015 class include winners of the Nobel Prize and the Pulitzer Prize; MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships; and Grammy, Emmy, Oscar, and Tony Awards.

“We are honored to elect a new class of extraordinary women and men to join our distinguished membership,” said Don Randel, Chair of the Academy’s Board of Directors. “Each new member is a leader in his or her field and has made a distinct contribution to the nation and the world. We look forward to engaging them in the intellectual life of this vibrant institution.”

Academy President Jonathan Fanton added, “The honor of election is also a call to service. Through its projects, publications, and events, the Academy provides its members with opportunities to discover common interests and find common ground. We invite every new member to participate in our important and rewarding work.”

The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on 10 October 2015 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Since its founding in 1780, the Academy has elected leading “thinkers and doers” from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the eighteenth century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the nineteenth, and Margaret Mead and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the twentieth. The current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.