Fourteen MBL Affiliates Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

MBL Society Members Thoru Pederson and James P. Collins, who also co-directs the MBL-ASU History of Biology seminars, are among 14 MBL-affiliated scientists who have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honorary societies. All were elected to the Academy’s Biological Sciences division.

These scholars join the 2020 class of more than 250 distinguished individuals recognized by the Academy as world leaders in academia, business, government, and public affairs and whose work informs policy and advances the public good.

The Academy, headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., was founded in 1780 by John Adams, John Hancock, and others who believed the new republic should honor exceptionally accomplished individuals and engage them in advancing the public good. The Academy’s dual mission remains essentially the same 240 years later, with honorees from increasingly diverse fields and with the work focused on the arts, democracy, education, global affairs, and science.

MBL affiliates newly elected to the Academy (with their Biological Sciences section indicated) include:

Thomas A. Rando, Stanford University (Cellular and Developmental Biology)
Grass Fellow

Diane Lipscombe, Brown University (Neurosciences)
Whitman Scientist, Neurobiology course faculty

Richard Mooney, Duke University School of Medicine (Neurosciences)
Whitman Scientist; Neural Systems & Behavior and Biology of the Inner Ear course faculty

Karen P. Steel, King's College London, IHM (Neurosciences)
Biology of the Inner Ear course faculty

Joy M. Bergelson, University of Chicago (Evolution and Ecology)
Molecular Evolution course alumnus

James P. Collins, Arizona State University (Evolution and Ecology)
MBL Society member, Invertebrate Zoology and History of Biology course alumnus

Luis E. Eguiarte Universidad Autónoma de México, IHM –(Evolution and Ecology)
Molecular Evolution course alumnus

Val C. Sheffield, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine (Medical Sciences)
Fundamental Issues in Vision Research course faculty

Teresa K. Woodruff, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine (Medical Sciences)
Frontiers in Reproduction course director and faculty

Yasmine Belkaid, National Institutes of Health
Biology of Parasitism course faculty

Joseph Heitman, Duke University School of Medicine
Molecular Mycology course faculty

Victoria Orphan, California Institute of Technology
Microbial Diversity course faculty

Thoru Pederson, University of Massachusetts Medical School (Intersection)
MBL Society member, Physiology course faculty, Embryology course alumnus