20 faculty members named to 2008 class of AAAS fellows

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAAS), one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies and independent policy research centers, today (April 28) announced the election of 20 Harvard University faculty members and affiliates to its new class of members.

Drawn from the sciences, the arts and humanities, business, public affairs, and the nonprofit sector, the 190 new fellows and 22 foreign honorary members are leaders in their fields and include Nobel laureates and recipients of Pulitzer and Pritzker prizes, Academy and Grammy awards, and Kennedy Center Honors.

Among those elected from Harvard University are:

• Susan C. Athey, professor of economics

• Mahzarin Banaji, Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics

• Janet Browne, Aramont Professor of the History of Science, FAS

• Benjamin Buchloh, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Modern Art

• Lawrence Buell, Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature

• Nancy F. Cott, Jonathan Trumbull Professor of American History; director, Schlesinger Library

• Daniel Gilbert, Harvard College Professor, professor of psychology

• Jerome Groopman, Dina and Raphael Recanati Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School (HMS)

• Rakesh Jain, A. Werk Cook Professor of Radiation Oncology (Tumor Biology), Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, HMS

• David Kazhdan, professor emeritus

• Judy Lieberman, professor of pediatrics; senior investigator, CBR Institute for Biomedical Research, HMS

• Timothy J. Mitchison, Hasib Sabbagh Professor of Systems Biology, HMS

• Gulru Necipoglu-Kafadar, Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Art; director, Aga Khan Program

• Norbert Perrimon, professor of genetics, HMS

• Jeremy C. Stein, Moise Y. Safra Professor of Economics

• Kevin Struhl, David Wesley Gaiser Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, HMS

• William J. Stuntz, Henry J. Friendly Professor of Law, Harvard Law School (HLS)

• Xiaoliang Sunney Xie, professor of chemistry

• Elizabeth Warren, Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law, HLS

• Leonard I. Zon, Grousbeck Professor of Pediatrics, HMS

This year’s field of scholars, scientists, artists, and civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders (totaling 212) comes from 20 states and 15 countries, ranging in age from 37 to 86. Represented among this year’s newly elected members are more than 50 universities and more than a dozen corporations, as well as museums, national laboratories, and private research institutes, media outlets and foundations.

“The academy honors excellence by electing to membership remarkable men and women who have made preeminent contributions to their fields, and to the world,” said AAAS President Emilio Bizzi. “We are pleased to welcome into the academy these new members to help advance our founders’ goal of ‘cherishing knowledge and shaping the future.’”

An independent policy research center, the academy undertakes studies of complex and emerging problems. Its diverse membership of scholars and practitioners from many disciplines and professions gives the academy a unique capacity to conduct a wide range of interdisciplinary, long-term policy research. Current studies focus on science, technology, and global security; social policy and American institutions; the humanities and culture; and education.

“For 228 years, the academy has served the public good by convening leading thinkers and doers from diverse perspectives to examine – and provide practical policy solutions to – the pressing issues of the day,” added chief executive officer and William T. Golden Chair Leslie Berlowitz. “I am confident that this distinguished class of new members will continue that tradition.”

The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on Oct. 11 at the academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

Founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock, and other scholar-patriots, the academy has elected as members the finest minds and most influential leaders from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 19th, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the 20th. The current membership includes some 200 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.