Only Nine Women Among the 72 New Members of the National Academy of Sciences

Each year the prestigious National Academy of Sciences selects new members who in the academy’s judgment have made the greatest contribution to scientific research, including social science research. Election to the academy is an extraordinary honor and is often seen as the pinnacle of a scholar’s career. Recently the National Academy of Sciences announced the election of 72 new members. Of the 72 new members, only nine are women.

Huda Akil, Rebecca Buckley, Barbara Dosher, Lynne Maquat, Ellen Markman, Susan McConnell, Sara McLanahan, and Geraldine Richmond

• Huda Akil is the Gardner Quarton Distinguished University Professor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry at the University of Michigan. She is co-director of the university’s Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California at Los Angeles.

• Rebecca H. Buckley is the J. Buran Sidbury Professor of Pediatrics and professor of immunology at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. Dr. Buckley is a graduate of Duke University and the medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

• Barbara A. Dosher is dean of the School of Social Science and professor of cognitive science at the University of California, Irvine. Professor Dosher is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego. She holds master’s and Ph.D. degrees from in experimental psychology from the University of Oregon.

• Catherine S. Fowler is professor emerita of anthropology at the University of Nevada at Reno. Dr. Fowler is the former president of the Society of Ethnobiology She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.

• Lynne E. Maquat is the J. Lowell Orbison Distinguished Service Alumni Professor and professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. She also serves as director of the university’s Center for RNA Biology. Dr. Maquat is a graduate of the University of Connecticut. She holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin.

• Ellen M. Markman is the Lewis M. Terman Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. She holds a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

• Susan K. McConnell is the Susan B. Ford Professor of Biology at Stanford University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard University.

• Sara S. McLanahan is the Williams S. Todd Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. She is the founder and director of the Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Wellbeing and serves as editor of the journal The Future of Children. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas.

• Geraldine L. Richmond is the Richard M. and Patricia H. Noyes Professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon. Dr. Richmond is co-founder and chair of the Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists. Professor Richmond is a graduate of Kansas State University and holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley.