Fellows
Each year, the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences honors distinguished individuals through its Fellowship and Honorary Life Member awards. The awardees constitute a select and prestigious community of scientists, engineers, research physicians, and others deeply concerned about science and science education. Awardees are recognized for extraordinary scientific accomplishments and service to the science community and the public. Academy peers initiate the nomination process. The Board of Governors' reviews all nominees and makes its selection on the basis of the quality and extent of accomplishment and service.
A candidate for Fellowship must have attained recognition for significant professional achievement in scientific research or science education. A candidate for Honorary Life Membership must have attained great distinction in science; only two are selected each year.
Nominations must include letters of support from three leading scientists or science educators in the nominee's field, one of which should be the letter of nomination. The nomination should include the candidate's curriculum vitae and a list of publications. Only one of the letters can be from a person employed at the same institution as the candidate or closely associated with the candidate's research. Self-nominations are not permitted. Academy Fellows will be announced and honored at the annual meeting.
Dr. Alcock is the Director Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and a professor of astronomy at Harvard University.
Dr. Ausubel is part of the Department of Genetics at Harvard University, and part of the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Berggren settled in Woods Hole in 1965 where he has been a Senior Scientist since 1971. At Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Dr. Berggren is involved in the analysis and interpretation of piston and gravity cores. He has established himself as a force in Plio-Pleistocene correlations.
Dr. Carpenter is the Director of the Imaging Platform at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. She also leads an interdisciplinary research group that develops and applies methods for extracting quantitative information from biological images in order to identify gene function, disease states, and therapeutic potential across diverse biological fields.
Dr. Connie Chow is Science Club for Girls’ first Executive Director, where she directs multiple free programs across Massachusetts, engaging over 650 youth from underrepresented groups from K-12 in hands-on explorations of science and engineering in out-of-school-time settings. Dr. Chow is a dedicated educator who has had a long-term interest in humanistic science education and social justice.
Dr. Coffin presently divides his time between Tufts University and the National Cancer Institute. He has served on a number of national committees to review and set policy regarding retroviruses and disease. In 1999, he was elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences.
Professor of Biology, Brandeis University, where she studies protein structure, dynamics, and assembly. In 2000, she was the Founder's Award winner for outstanding achievement in Biophysics from the Biophysical Society, among many other awards.
Dr. Dresselhaus has served as President of the American Physical Society, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Treasurer of the National Academy of Sciences and has devoted a great deal of time to supporting efforts to promote increased participation of women in science and engineering. She is currently an Institute Professor of Electrical Engineering and Physics at MIT. Dr. Dresselhaus is particularly noted for her work on graphite, graphite intercalation compounds, and carbon nanostructures and low dimensional thermoelectric materials.
Dr. Forney is an Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT. Dr. Forney's research interests include: coding and decoding for Euclidean-space channels, power- and bandwidth-efficient communication, connections between coding theory and system theory; complexity, combined equalization and coding, and quantum communications.
Dr. Gierasch is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Gierasch studies conformational analysis of peptides and proteins by NMR, CD and other spectroscopic methods, as well as biophysical approaches to protein folding and localization in vivo.
Dr. Gilbert won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1980 for developing a rapid DNA sequencing technology.
Laurie Glimcher is the Irene Heinz Given professor of immunology in the department of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard School of Public Health, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an associate member at the Broad Institute. Her laboratory uses biochemical and genetic approaches to elucidate the molecular pathways that regulate CD4 T helper cell development and activation.
Dr. Hall is a Professor of Biology at Brandeis University. In his research, Dr. Hall and his colleagues investigate the function of the nervous system in Drosophila. Many of their approaches involve genetic studies of behavior, augmented in by molecular manipulations of genes defined by certain behavioral mutations.
Daniel L. Hartl is Higgins Professor of Biology in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. His research focuses on the molecular basis of evolutionary changes in genes and genomes. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also a Past President of the Genetics Society of America and the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Dr. Herschbach won the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Yuan T. Lee and John C. Polanyi "for their contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes." His research has ranged broadly over the field of chemical physics, including much theoretical work in dimensional scaling. Dr. Herschbach has been a strong proponent of science education and science among the general public, and frequently gives lectures to students of all ages, imbuing them with his infectious enthusiasm for science and his playful spirit of discovery.
Dr. Hopkins is part of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, where she studies the identification of genes essential for early development in zebra fish, and the role of these genes in longevity and cancer predisposition in adult fish.
Dr. Kopell is currently the Co-director of the Center for BioDynamics at Boston University. Dr. Kopell's major current interest is dynamics of the nervous system, especially rhythmic behavior in networks of neurons.
Eric Lander is founding director of the Broad Institute. As one of the principal leaders of the Human Genome Project, Eric and colleagues are using these findings to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying the basis of human disease. Eric is also professor of biology at MIT, professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School and member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. He founded the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research in 1990. This Center became part of the newly founded Broad Institute in 2003.
Dr. Leeman is currently a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Boston University. Dr. Leeman's work focuses on the two peptides, substance P (SP) and neurotensin, which were isolated and chemically defined in this laboratory. A new direction of research involves studies directed towards the chemical characterization and function of the carbohydrate moieties on the SP receptor.
Dr. Lindquist is currently a professor of biology at MIT, an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. The central theme of Dr. Lindquist's research is to explore the impact of protein conformational changes on diverse processes in cellular and organismal biology.
Dr. Margulis is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1983, received from William J. Clinton the Presidential Medal of Science in 1999. The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., announced in 1998 that they were going to permanently archive her papers. Her publications, spanning a wide range of scientific topics, include original contributions to cell biology and microbial evolution.
Dr. Meselson is currently a Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard University. The objective of Dr. Meselson's research is to understand why nearly all animals and plants reproduce sexually, why the loss of sexual reproduction usually leads to early extinction. The Meselson laboratory studies the evolution of asexuality in bdelloid rotifers. Meselson described the "Meselson effect", which is when two alleles in an asexual organism evolve independently and divergently over time, producing what are essentially two genomes in one organism.
Dr. Pardue is currently The Boris Magasanik Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Pardue's research is on the genetic, biochemical, and cytological studies of structural elements of chromosomes, with an emphasis on telomeres, heterochromatin, and transposable elements. She also studies of the coordination of nuclear and cytoplasmic activities, and analysis of the molecular mechanisms by which cells respond to stress, especially the molecular biology of the heat shock response.
Dr. Partee is currently a Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Linguistics and Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research and teaching interests center on formal semantics and its connections with syntax, pragmatics, and logic, and on related issues in the philosophy of language and in cognitive science. One lifelong interest is quantification. An NSF-supported project with Emmon Bach and Angelika Kratzer of UMass Amherst dealt with cross-linguistic quantification and semantic typology. Another project in collaboration with Eva Hajicova and Petr Sgall of Charles University, Prague, concerned topic-focus structure and quantification, integrating the contemporary Prague school approach with work in formal semantics. Her current research, joint with husband and colleague Vladimir Borschev of the Russian Academy of Sciences and UMass Amherst, aims to integrate Russian lexical semantics with Western formal semantics.
Dr. Pilbeam is a Henry Ford II Professor of Social Sciences at Harvard University. Dr. Pilbeam is interested in a wide range of topics involving human and primate evolution.
Tom Riccardi is a retired environmental police officer that operates the Massachusetts Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center from his home in Conway, Massachusetts. As a bird of prey rehabilitator, Tom works with hawks, owls and eagles and gives informative live presentations.
Dr. Stanley is a professor at Boston University and the Director of the Center for Polymer Sciences.
Professor B. L. Turner II is the Milton P. and Alice C. Higgins Professor of Environment and Society and Director, Graduate School of Geography, Clark University. His research focuses on sustainability science, specifically on land change dynamics, ranging from the ancient Maya to contemporary deforestation in the tropics.
Dr. Wilson is a research professor emeritus and honorary curator of entomology at Harvard University. He has received many of the world's leading prizes for his research in science, his environmental activism, and his writing.
Mary Young was Science Department Chair for twenty-five of the forty- three years she taught at North Quincy High School. Teaching high school biology and chemistry has comprised her teaching career, but constructing and providing educational experiences that challenge and inspire the next generation of teachers and students has been her passion.
Dr. Zuber's research interests include theoretical modeling of geophysical processes, analysis of altimetry, gravity and tectonics to determine the structure and dynamics of the Earth and solid planets, and development and implementation of spacecraft laser and radio tracking experiments.
Bill Nye, scientist, engineer, comedian, author, and inventor, and MAS Fellow is a man with a mission: to help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. Making science entertaining and accessible is something Bill has been doing most of his life. Bill Nye is the host of two currently running television series.
Claire Duggan is the Director of Programs and Partnerships at the Center for STEM Education at Northeastern University.
Howard Ris has been the President and Chief Executive Officer, of the New England Aquarium since 2005 and in 2003 he was president of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). He has been with UCS since 1981, serving as executive director from 1984 to 2001 and as director of UCS’s Nuclear Arms Control Program from 1981 to 1984. Mr. Ris is a member of the Environmental Business Council of New England and was a founding member of the Professionals' Coalition for Nuclear Arms Control and the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility.
On January 1, 2003, Ioannis (Yannis) N. Miaoulis, became President and Director of the Museum of Science, Boston. Originally from Greece, Dr. Miaoulis, now 48, came to the Museum after a distinguished association with Tufts University. There, he was Dean of the School of Engineering, Associate Provost, Interim Dean of the University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and Professor of Mechanical Engineering. In addition to helping Tufts raise $100 million for its engineering school, Miaoulis greatly increased the number of female students and faculty, designed collaborative programs with industry, and more than doubled research initiatives. Founding laboratories in Thermal Analysis for Materials Processing and Comparative Biomechanics, he also created the Center for Engineering Educational Outreach and the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program.
Dr. Mello was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2006 for his discoveries related to RNA interference. He is a Professor in the Program in Molecular Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Mello uses the nematode worm C. elegans as a model organism to investigate the mechanism of RNA interference, a form of sequence-specific gene silencing triggered by double-stranded RNA. He is also investigating how embryonic cells differentiate and communicate during development.
Dr. Glauber won the 2005 Nobel Prize for Physics for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence. Roy Glauber's recent research has dealt with problems in a number of areas of quantum optics, a field which, broadly speaking, studies the quantum electrodynamical interactions of light and matter. He is also continuing work on several topics in high- energy collision theory, including the analysis of hadron collisions, and the statistical correlation of particles produced in high-energy reactions.
Dr. King graduated with a B.S. in Zoology from Yale University in 1962. He completed his PhD in Genetics from CalTech in 1968 and spent two years engaged in postdoctoral studies in structural biology at Cambridge. He served as an Associate Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA before moving to MIT as an Assistant Professor in 1971, where he was granted tenure in 1974. Dr. King is a member of the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences and for the Technical Education Resource Center.
Dr. Campbell received his B.A. in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard University (1966) and Ph.D. from Cambridge University in Theoretical Physics and Applied Mathematics (1970). He moved in 2000 to Boston University, where he joined the Department of Physics. He served as Provost of BU from 2005 to 2010. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Chaos, a Fellow of the APS and of the AAAS. Campbell is known for his studies of localized nonlinear excitations—“solitons,” polarons, bipolarons, “breathers,” “intrinsic localized modes”—in many branches of physics particularly in conducting polymers, magnetic systems, and related novel solid state systems.
Dr. Larson received his Ph.D. from MIT in 1969 where he is Mitsui Professor in the Engineering Systems Division and founding director of the Center for Engineering System Fundamentals. He is author of over 85 scientific articles, primarily in the fields of urban service systems, queuing, logistics, disaster management, disease dynamics, dynamic pricing of critical infrastructures, education and workforce planning. Dr. Larson is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and is an INFORMS Founding Fellow. He recently joined the Board on Health Sciences Policy of the Institute of Medicine. From 1995 to mid 2003, Dr. Larson served as Director of MIT’s Center for Advanced Educational Services. Dr. Larson’s position at CAES focused on bringing technology-enabled learning to students living on the traditional campus and to those living and working far from the university, perhaps on different continents. He is founding Director of Learning International Networks Consortium, a MIT-based international project. He recently started LINC’s newest and largest initiative, BLOSSOMS, Blended Learning Open Source Science or Math Studies sponsored by the Hewlett Foundation.
Dr. Bhatia received her ScB with honors from Brown University in 1990. She pursued an MS in Mechanical Engineering at MIT and then received her MD from Harvard Medical School in 1999. She concurrently pursued her graduate work at MIT in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics, receiving her PhD in 1997. She is a member of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, an Associate member of the Broad Institute, and a Biomedical Engineer at the Brigham & Women's Hospital. Her research is in the application of micro- and nano-technology to tissue repair and regeneration. Specifically, she studies the interactions between hepatocytes and their microenvironment and develops microfabrication tools to improve cellular therapies for liver disease. She is also working on the development of arrays of living cells as high-throughput-platforms to study fundamental aspects of stem cell biology. Dr. Bhatia is the author of Microfabrication in Tissue Engineering and Bioartificial Organs and co-author of the first undergraduate textbook in Tissue Engineering. She is the co-founder of two startup companies, holds 15 issued or pending patents and has worked in industry at Pfizer, Genetics Institute, ICI Pharmaceuticals, and Organogenesis.
Ms. Schelkin holds both a BS and MS degree in Petroleum Engineering from the Russian Petroleum Engineering University, and a MS from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Ms. Schelkin has pursued doctoral research in artificial intelligence (AI) and the mathematical modeling of hydraulic processes. She was employed as a petroleum engineer & a senior petroleum engineering research and development specialist at the Russian Oil and Gas Research Institute in Moscow. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education. Currently, she is serving as an Advisor for the New England Science Network at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As President of DOME, she works to enhance the exposure, awareness and understanding of the STEM fields and associated career paths for students from underrepresented populations, to support the STEM pipeline for students from underrepresented populations by facilitating funding sources and mentoring programs, to promote the importance of and exposure to STEM disciplines and careers by providing learning experiences/internships for students, teachers, and career counselors, and enhance the dialogue and form partnerships among corporations, primary and secondary schools, professional societies, and a diverse group of academic institutions to provide networking opportunities on STEM issues.
Dr. Schrock obtained his B. A. inn 1967 from the University of California at Riverside and his Ph.D from Harvard University in 1971. He is perhaps best known for his discovery of "high oxidation state carbene" (alkylidene complexes) by alpha hydrogen abstraction in high oxidation state metal alkyl complexes. In the past few years he has applied alkylidene chemistry toward the controlled polymerization of cyclic olefins via ring-opening-metathesis polymerization (ROMP) and the synthesis of polyenes through alkyne polymerization. He also has been studying the catalytic reduction of dinitrogen by molybdenum complexes at room temperature and pressure. In 2005, he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Y. Chauvin and R. H. Grubbs. He has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. He was Associate Editor of Organometallics for eight years, and has published over 500 research papers.
Dr. Ambros obtained a BS from MIT in 1975 and remained there to pursue his graduate research, receiving his PhD in 1979 studying poliovirus genome structure and replication. He began to study the genetic pathways controlling developmental timing in the nematode C. elegans as a postdoc at MIT, and continued those studies while on the faculty of Harvard (1984-1992), Dartmouth (1992-2007), and the University of Massachusetts Medical School (2008-present). Dr. Ambros and his coworkers discovered the first microRNA while studying a C. elegans gene. He used the nematode model to study how microRNAs, which are regulators of gene expression in plants and animals, are integrated into animal development and human disease. Dr. Ambros has received numerous honors for his scientific achievements, including the 2002 Newcomb Cleveland Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the 2005 Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research, the 2006 Genetics Society of America Medal for outstanding contributions in the field of genetics in the past 15 years and the 2008 Gairdner International Award. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2007 for discovering microRNAs.
Dr. Hu received her BA in Physics from Barnard College. She earned an MS and PhD in Physics from Columbia University. Her research focuses on high-resolution fabrication of compound semiconductor electronic and optoelectronic devices, candidate structures for the realization of quantum computation schemes, and on novel device structures formed through the heterogeneous integration of materials.Recently her work has involved the interaction of quantum dots in high Q microdisk and photonic crystal cavities. Prior to her appointment at Harvard, she was Scientific Co-Director, California Nanosystems Institute and a Professor in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Materials at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She also worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories, developing microfabrication and nanofabrication techniques for high performance superconducting and semiconducting devices and circuits. Hu is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Academica Sinica of Taiwan, a recipient of an NSF Distinguished Teaching Fellow award, an AAAS Lifetime Mentor Award, a Fellow of the IEEE, APS, and the AAAS, and holds an honorary Doctorate of Engineering from the University of Glasgow. She was selected UCSB Faculty Research Lecturer in 2005.
Dr. Marder received her Ph.D. in 1974 from UCSD, and was a postdoc at the University of Oregon and the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, France. She joined the faculty at Brandeis in 1978, and has been instrumental in the establishment of both undergraduate and graduate programs in Neuroscience. Dr. Marder has served as the chief editor of the Journal of Neurophysiology since 2002, and serves on numerous other editorial boards. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a trustee of the Grass Foundation. Dr. Marder has studied the dynamics of small neuronal networks using the crustacean stomatogastric nervous system. Her work was instrumental in demonstrating that neuronal circuits are not “hard-wired” but can be reconfigured by neuromodulatory neurons and substances to produce a variety of outputs. Her laboratory pioneered the “dynamic clamp.” Dr. Marder was one of the first experimentalists to forge long-standing collaborations with theorists and has for almost 15 years combined experimental work with insights from modeling and theoretical studies. Her work today focuses on understanding how stability in networks arises despite ongoing channel and receptor turnover and modulation, both in developing and adult animals.
Ms. Mayrand received her bachelor’s degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1968. She served as a research assistant at UNH and Indiana University before joining what was then the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology in 1976. She has twenty years experience as a biomedical researcher in cell and molecular biology with special emphasis on gene expression. In 1991, Mayrand received her MBA from Clark University and in 1997 Mayrand assumed the dual full-time roles of Regional Science Resource Center Director and Associate Director of the Office of Science Education at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Beginning in 1990 with Mayrand’s part-time volunteer outreach efforts towards local schools, this science education initiative has evolved from a Science Mentor program into a wide range of educational assistance programs supported by national, state and local grants and foundations. Mayrand also serves as director of the Central Massachusetts Partnerships Advancing Learning of Mathematics and Science (PALMS). Initiated in 1992 by the Massachusetts Department of Education in conjunction with the National Science Foundation, PALMS is a widely successful program that was influential in the development of a statewide standards-based assessment program (MCAS).
Dr. Windham-Bannister holds a B.A. from Wellesley College, a doctorate in Health Policy and Management from the Heller School at Brandeis University, and was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School. She completed her doctoral work under a fellowship from the Ford Foundation. Dr. Windham-Bannister is former Managing Vice President of the Commercial Strategy Group for Abt Bio-Pharma Solutions Inc. In that capacity, she managed a research-based consulting business that provides consulting services to firms in the life sciences. In 2008, Dr. Windham-Bannister was appointed by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Board of Directors to be the Center’s first President and CEO. She brings 35 years of consulting experience in life sciences to this position and has worked with companies that represent all major industry sectors. A small list of her clients includes Siemens Diagnostics, Roche, Pfizer, Genzyme, Eyetech, The American Cancer Society and The W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Dr. Windham-Bannister has co-authored two books and written several articles on competition in today’s health care marketplace. She sits on a variety of Boards of Directors and is a frequent speaker and panelist at conferences on competitive strategy.
Dr. Zahopoulos holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Northeastern University and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Division of Applied Sciences at Harvard University.He is also the founder and Executive Director of Northeastern University's Center for STEM Education, a university-wide Center, which aspires to improve STEM teaching and learning in K-16 and beyond. Dr. Zahopoulos is actively involved in the Gordon Engineering Leadership Program by assisting in the teaching of the Scientific Foundations of Engineering course. He is the Director of Project RE-SEED (Retirees Enhancing Science Education through Experiments and Demonstrations), a science classroom volunteer program that has been replicated in nine other states as well as internationally. He also recently led the Middle School Science Professional Development Project of the National Science Resources Center. In 2005, Christos was honored with the President's Aspiration Award from Northeastern University, in recognition of his work in K-12 education and outreach.
Dr. McCarthy received his B.A. summa cum laude (linguistics and Near Eastern languages) from Harvard College in 1975 and his Ph.D. (linguistics) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1979. He was an assistant professor (linguistics) at the University of Texas at Austin from 1979-84 and associate professor from 1984-85. Dr. McCarthy was an associate professor, University of Massachusetts at Amherst from 1985-89; Professor from 1989-2007; and Distinguished University Professor (linguistics), 2007-present. He served as the Head of the Department of Linguists from 1993-96, and 2010-present. McCarthy is an international leader in two major subfields of linguistics, phonology and morphology, and their interaction. In the early 1990’s McCarthy, Prince and Paul Smolensky developed Optimality Theory. McCarthy and Prince, in individual and joint work, became the leading exponents and developers of the theory within linguistics. By the mid-90’s, the great majority of phonology papers submitted to meetings and journals were framed in Optimality Theory. McCarthy, Smolensky, and Prince are the three founding fathers of Optimality Theory, with McCarthy widely regarded as the strongest in contributions to phonological theory and the training of the next generation. His recent research developing Harmonic Serialism makes advances on fundamental issues concerning the nature of phonological derivation, paradigmatic relations, categoricality, and the concept of markedness.
