27 April 2021

AAS Members Elected to the National Academy of Sciences

This announcement is adapted from a National Academies press release:

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The National Academy of Sciences has announced the election of 120 new members — including 59 women, the most elected in a single year — and 30 international members in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Among those newly elected are more than a dozen who work in the astronomical sciences, nine of whom are AAS members:

  1. Elena Aprile (Columbia University)
  2. Frances Bagenal (University of Colorado, Boulder)
  3. Linda T. Elkins-Tanton (Arizona State University)
  4. Debra Fischer (Yale University)
  5. Lisa J. Kewley (Australian National University); elected as an international member
  6. Peter Mészáros (Pennsylvania State University)
  7. Angela V. Olinto (University of Chicago)
  8. Anneila I. Sargent (California Institute of Technology)
  9. Ellen G. Zweibel (University of Wisconsin, Madison)

“The historic number of women elected this year reflects the critical contributions that they are making in many fields of science, as well as a concerted effort by our Academy to recognize those contributions and the essential value of increasing diversity in our ranks,” said National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt. “I am pleased to welcome all of our new members, and I look forward to engaging with them in the work of the National Academies.”

The class of 2021 brings the total number of active members to 2,461 and the total number of international members to 511. International members are nonvoting members of the Academy, with citizenship outside the United States.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and — with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine — provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations.

The AAS congratulates all the astrophysicists and planetary scientists elected to this prestigious institution!