April 22, 2015
Two UW faculty named to American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Two University of Washington faculty members are among the leaders from academia, business, philanthropy, humanities and the arts elected as 2015 fellows of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies.
Stanley Fields, a professor of genome sciences and medicine, and David B. Kaplan, a professor of physics and director of the UW-based Institute for Nuclear Theory, join 197 new academy members announced today.
“We are honored to elect a new class of extraordinary women and men to join our distinguished membership,” Don Randel, chair of the academy’s board of directors, said in a release. “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.”
Fields and Kaplan join Pulitzer Prize-winner Holland Cotter, singer-songwriter Judy Collins, Nike co-founder Philip Knight, Nobel Prize-winner Brian Kobilka, Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and novelist Tom Wolfe in the 2015 academy class.
Since its inception in 1780, the academy has elected 4,600 fellows and 600 foreign honorary members that represent each generation’s leading “scholars and practitioners” worldwide. Those have included George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century, Alexander Graham Bell and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 19th century, and Albert Einstein and Woodrow Wilson in the 20th century.
The academy is a leading center for independent policy research. Its 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.
The 2015 members will be inducted in a ceremony Oct. 10 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A full list of this year’s members can be found here.
