Less Than a Third of New Members of National Academy of Sciences Are Women

The National Academy of Sciences recently announced the selection of 84 new members and 21 foreign associates. There are now 2,382 living members of the nation’s most prestigious society of scientific scholars.

The National Academy of Sciences does not publish data on the gender of its members. But according to a WIAReport analysis of the group of 84 new members from the United States, 27, or 32.1 percent, are women. A year ago, there were 23 women among the 84 new members. They made up 27.4 percent of the new members.

Here are brief biographies of the 27 women who were elected members of the National Academy of Sciences this year.

Natalie G. Ahn, Mahzarin R. Banaji, Carol A. Barnes, Joy M. Bergelson, Shelley Berger, and Andrea L. Bertozzi

Natalie G. Ahn is the associate director of the Biofrontiers Institute and professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Colorado, Bofffulder. Dr. Ahn joined the faculty at the university in 2003. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mahzarin R. Banaji is the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics in the department of psychology at Harvard University. She joined the faculty in 2002 after teaching at Yale from 1986 to 2002. Professor Banaji earned a master’s degree at Osmania University in Hyderabad, India, and holds a Ph.D. from Ohio State University.

Carol A. Barnes is Regents’ Professor of Psychology, Neurology, and Neuroscience and holds the Evelyn F. McKnight Chair for Learning and Memory in Aging at the University of Arizona. She also serves as the director of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute. Dr. Barnes is a graduate of the University of California, Riverside. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in psychology from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

Joy M. Bergelson is a professor and chair of the  department of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago. Dr. Bergelson is a summa cum laude graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She earned a master’s degree as a Marshall Scholar at York University in England. Professor Bergelson holds a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Washington.

Shelley Berger is director of the epigenetics program and the Daniel S. Och Professor, Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor, and professor in the departments of cell and developmental biology, genetics, and biology at the University of Pennsylvania. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Michigan.

Andrea L. Bertozzi is a professor of mathematics and mechanical and aerospace engineering, and director of the program in computational and applied mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles. Professor Bertozzi holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Princeton University in New Jersey.

Kristie A. Boering, Judith Campisi, Yang Dan, Sarah C.R. Elgin, Paula S. England, and Amy N. Finkelstein

Kristie A. Boering is the Lieselotte and David Templeton Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Boering is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego, where she majored in chemistry. She earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry at Stanford University.

Judith Campisi is a professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California. She earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Stony Brook University of the State University of New York System. Dr. Campisi conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard Medical School.

Yang Dan is a professor in department of molecular and cell biology of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley. A graduate of Peking University in China, Dr. Dan holds a Ph.D. in biological science from Columbia University in New York City.

Sarah C.R. Elgin is the Victor Hamburger Professor of Arts & Sciences, professor of biology, professor of biochemistry, professor of genetics, and professor of education at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Elgin is a graduate of Pomona College in Claremont, California, where she majored in chemistry. She earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology.

Paula S. England is a professor of sociology at New York University. She is a graduate of Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, where she majored in sociology and psychology. Professor England holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago.

Amy N. Finkelstein is the John & Jennie S. MacDonald Professor and professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Finklestein is a summa cum laude graduate of Harvard University. She earned a master’s degree in economics at the University of Oxford in England and a Ph.D. in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ying-Hui Fu, Karen I. Goldberg, Susan P. Harrison, Akiko Iwasaki, Vassiliki Kalogera, and Barbara Landau

Ying-Hui Fu is a professor in the department of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. She joined the faculty in 2002 after teaching at the University of Utah. Dr. Fu is an expert in circadian rhythm and sleep. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Taiwan, Professor Fu received a Ph.D. in biochemistry and medical biology from Ohio State University.

Karen I. Goldberg is the Vagelos Professor of Energy Research in the department of chemistry at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She joined the faculty in 2017 after teaching at the University of Washington. Professor Goldberg is a graduate of Barnard College in New York City and holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley.

Susan P. Harrison is a professor in the department of environmental science and policy at the University of California, Davis. She teaches courses in conservation biology and ecology. Dr. Harrison earned a Ph.D. in biology at Stanford University.

Akiko Iwasaki is the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the Yale School of Medicine. She joined the faculty at Yale in 2000. Dr. Iwasaki earned a Ph.D. at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada.

Vassiliki Kalogera is the Daniel I. Linzer Distinguished University Professor of Physics and Astronomy and director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She joined the faculty in 2001. Dr. Kalogera is a graduate of the University of Thessaloniki in Greece and earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Illinois.

Barbara Landau is the director of the Science of Learning Institute, and the Dick and Lydia Todd Professor of Cognitive Science at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She joined the faculty in 2001 after teaching  at the University of Delaware. Professor Landau holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. She also earned a master’s degree in educational psychology from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Jennifer A. Lewis, Karolin Luger, Carol A. Mason , Susan R. McCouch, Arlene H. Sharpe, and Diana Harrison Wall

Jennifer A. Lewis is the Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. Professor Lewis is a graduate of the University of Illinois, where she majored in ceramic engineering. She holds a doctorate in ceramic science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Karolin Luger is a professor and holds the Jennie Smoley Caruthers Endowed Chair of Biochemistry in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Dr. Luger holds a bachelor’s degree in microbiology and a master’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Innsbruck in Austria. She earned a Ph.D. at the University of Basel in Switzerland.

Carol A. Mason is a professor in the departments of pathology and cell biology, neuroscience, and ophthalmology in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in New York City. Dr. Mason is a graduate of Chatham University in Pittsburgh. She earned a Ph.D. in zoology at the University of California, Berkeley.

Susan R. McCouch is a professor in the department of plant breeding and genetics at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She joined the faculty at Cornell in 1995. Professor McCouch is a graduate of Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts and a Ph.D. from Cornell University.

Arlene H. Sharpe is co-director of the Evergrande Center for Immunologic Diseases and the George Fabyan Professor of Comparative Pathology at Harvard Medical School. She is a past president of the American Association of Immunologists. Professor Sharpe holds a bachelor’s degree, a medical degree, and a Ph.D., all from Harvard University.

Diana Harrison Wall is a senior research scientist at the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory and a professor of biology, and director of the School of Global Environmental Sustainability at Colorado State University. She joined the faculty in 1993 after teaching at the University of California, Riverside. Dr. Wall earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and a Ph.D. in plant pathology from the University of Kentucky.

Clare M. Waterman, Cathy L. Whitlock and Virginia A. Zakian

Clare M. Waterman is a distinguished investigator and director of the Laboratory of Cell and Tissue Morphodynamics in the Cell Biology and Physiology Center at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Professor Waterman is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. She earned a master’s degree in exercise science from the University of Massachusetts and a Ph.D. in cell biology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Cathy L. Whitlock is a professor of earth sciences at Montana State University, and a fellow of the Montana Institute on Ecosystems. Professor Whitlock is a magna cum laude graduate of Colorado College, where she majored in geology. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in geological sciences from the University of Washington.

Virginia A. Zakian is the Harry C. Weiss Professor in the Life Sciences in the department of molecular biology at Princeton University. Professor Zakian is a graduate of Cornell University, where she majored in biology. She earned a Ph.D. in biology at Yale University.