Skip to content ↓

NAS elects three MIT faculty, six alumni

Three MIT faculty members are among the 60 new members elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Also elected were six MIT alumni/ae.

The faculty members are:

Arnold L. Demain, professor of industrial microbiology in the Department of Biology.

David E. Housman, professor of biology in the Department of Biology and an associate in neurology and genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Julius Rebek Jr., the Camile Dreyfus Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry.

The NAS was established by Congress in 1863 to act as an official advisor to the federal government in matters of science and technology. Election to membership is considered to be one of the highest honors accorded to scientists.

The election brings to 99 the number of MIT faculty members in the NAS.

Alumni/ae elected, in addition to Dr. Rebek, who received his PhD at MIT in 1970, were:

Harvard Medical School Professor Frederick M. Ausubel, 1972; University of Washington Professor James R. Holton, 1964; Stanford University Professor Robert B. Laughlin, 1979; Rockefeller University Professor Donald W. Pfaff, 1965; and UCal-Berkeley Professor Oliver E. Williamson, 1955.

Ten of the 79 people elected to the National Academy of Engineering, announced earlier this year (Tech Talk February 16), were MIT alumni/ae. They were University of Pennsylvania Professor Marshall L. Fisher, 1965; MIT Professor Woodie C. Flowers, 1968; Chiron Corp. senior vice president Renato Fuchs, 1969; MIT Professor John G. Kassakian, 1965; AT&T Bell Laboratories distinguished staff member Charles R. Kurkjian, 1955; MIT Professor Paul Penfield Jr., 1960; Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc., consultant Reuben Samuels, 1946; Georgia Institute of Technology Professor Ronald W. Schafer, 1968; Sparkman and Stephens, Inc., consultant Olin J. Stephens II, 1930, University of Houston Professor James M. Symons, 1955.

A version of this article appeared in the May 4, 1994 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 38, Number 31).

Related Topics

More MIT News

Headshot of Catherine Wolfram

A delicate dance

Professor of applied economics Catherine Wolfram balances global energy demands and the pressing need for decarbonization.

Read full story