The UC researchers were among 72 new members and 18 foreign associates from 14 countries elected at the academy's 142nd annual meeting in Washington, D.C. No other university or college in the nation or world had more than six new members in this latest election.
Active NAS membership totals 1,976, and with this election, 358 members are affiliated with the University of California.
"Election to the National Academy of Sciences is an exceptional honor," said UC President Robert C. Dynes, who himself has been an NAS member since 1989 (Dynes is a physicist and an expert on semiconductors and superconductors). "The election of these researchers confirms once again the strength of our faculty in mathematics, science and engineering.
"The university's strong membership in the National Academies underscores the quality, diversity and breadth of work being conducted at UC, which is critical to California's and the nation's economic security and global competitiveness."
In February, the National Academy of Sciences announced that Ralph J. Cicerone, chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, campus since 1998, was elected president of NAS, the third UC leader to serve as the academy's president. Cicerone, an atmospheric scientist, is scheduled to take office this July.
The University of California faculty elected to the NAS in 2005 are:
UC Berkeley
- Carolyn R. Bertozzi, professor of chemistry and molecular and cell biology;
Steven G. Louie, professor of physics;
Barbara A. Romanowicz, professor of geology and geophysics and director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory.
UCLA
- William A.V. Clark, professor of geography;
Wayne L. Hubbell, Jules Stein Professor of Ophthalmology and associate director, Jules Stein Eye Institute, UCLA School of Medicine;
Stanley Osher, professor, department of mathematics;
Joan S. Valentine, professor of chemistry.
UC San Diego
- Shu Chien, director, Whitaker Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University Professor of Bioengineering and Medicine, and chair, department of bioengineering;
Gary Cox, professor, department of political science;
Michael Karin, professor of pharmacology, School of Medicine.
UC Santa Barbara
- Anthony G. Evans, professor, department of materials;
Joseph G. Polchinski, professor, department of physics, and permanent member, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics.
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The National Academy of Sciences is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to promoting science and its use for the general welfare. It was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation, signed by President Abraham Lincoln, which calls on the academy to act as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology.