American Academy Inducts 228th Class of Scholars, Scientists, Artists, Civic,
Corporate and Philanthropic Leaders
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Cutting edge research and
scholarship, artistic accomplishment and exemplary service to society will be
celebrated here on Saturday, October 11, as the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences officially welcomes its 228th class of Fellows.
Six members of the newly elected class will address their colleagues at the
induction ceremony: PepisCo Chairman and CEO Indra K. Nooyi; trailblazing
mathematician and hedge fund leader James Simons; biochemist and Merck
Research Laboratories President Peter S. Kim; Harvard economist Susan Athey;
and historian and Emory University Provost Earl Lewiswill speak. Soprano Dawn
Upshaw will perform. During the program, the Academy will also present its
Scholar-Patriot Award in honor of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who was elected a
Fellow of the Academy in 2002.
Founded in 1780, the Academy honors excellence each year by electing to
membership the finest minds and most influential leaders of the day.
"The induction ceremony is an opportunity to welcome new members and celebrate
the extraordinary history of the organization, now in its third century of
service to the nation," said Chief Executive Officer Leslie Berlowitz.
"Throughout its history, Fellows of the Academy have been dedicated to
advancing intellectual thought and constructive action in America and the
world. We are confident that our newest group of Fellows will help us fulfill
that mission in significant ways."
The Academy draws on its distinguished membership to address critical social
and intellectual issues through studies, publications, meetings and symposia.
The 190 new Fellows and 22 new Foreign Honorary Members are leaders in
scholarship, business, the arts and public affairs. They come from 20 states
and 15 countries, and range in age from 37 to 86. The new members represent
universities, corporations, museums, research institutes, media outlets and
foundations.
Among this year's inductees are winner of the Nobel Prize in physiology or
medicine, Linda Buck; computer company founders Michael Dell(Dell Inc.), and
Charles M. Geschke and John E. Warnock(Adobe Systems, Inc.); former Secretary
of State George P. Shultz; former Senate Armed Services Committee ChairmanSam
Nunn; astronomer Adam Riess, who contributed to the discovery of dark energy
in the universe; electrical engineer Henry Smith, the father of x-ray
lithography; Darwin biographer Janet Browne; architect Elizabeth Diller; and
physicist and arms control expert Sidney Drell.
Other new Fellows who will participate in the ceremony are: university heads
France A. Cordova (Purdue University) and Richard Herman(University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign); research center directors Piermaria Oddone
(Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory) and Bruce Stillman(Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory); seismologist Paul G. Richards, who applies his work to monitoring
underground nuclear test explosions; AIDS researcher Judith Lieberman; Larry
V. Hedges, founder of the meta-analysis method of social research; Margaret
Jane Radin, specialist in the jurisprudence of cyberspace; and tropical
agriculture specialist Pedro A. Sanchez.
This year's new Foreign Honorary Members come from Europe, Asia, Canada, and
the Middle East, and include British climate change expert John H. Lawton;
former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge G. Castaneda; director of Germany's Max
Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Nikos K. Logothetis; and Italian
glass-blowing maestro Lino Tagliapietra.
A complete list of new members is available on the Academy's website at:
http://www.amacad.org/news/alpha2008.aspx
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent research center
that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems.
Current Academy research focuses on: science, technology, and global security;
social policy and American Institutions; the humanities and culture; and
education. With headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., the Academy's work is
advanced by its 4,600 elected members, who are leaders in the academic
disciplines, the arts, business and public affairs from around the world.
(www.amacad.org)
SOURCE American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Paul Karoff of American Academy of Arts & Sciences, +1-617-576-5043,
pkaroff@amacad.org
