Three UC Berkeley professors named to National Academy of Sciences

BERKELEY — Two University of California, Berkeley, faculty members were elected members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and a third professor was elected a foreign associate, according to an announcement today (Tuesday, April 27) from the academy. Members are chosen for their excellence in original scientific research and serve on panels that investigate and report to government agencies on areas of science or art. The 72 new members and 18 foreign associates from 14 countries who were announced today bring total active membership in the society to just over 2,000. The new members will be inducted into the academy in April 2011 during its 148th annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Alexis T. Bell, Dow Chair in Sustainable Chemistry in the Department of Chemical Engineering, who studies catalysts and how their molecular structure affects the efficiency of chemical reactions. Michael I. Jordan, Pehong Chen Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and a professor in the Department of Statistics, who does research at the intersection of computer science and biology, including machine learning. Another newly elected member of the academy, Douglas E. Koshland, son of late UC Berkeley professors Daniel E. Koshland Jr. and Marian Elliott Koshland, has accepted a position as professor of molecular and cell biology, and will be moving to the campus in July from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C. The NAS is a private, nonprofit honorific society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furthering science and technology and to their use for the general welfare.