The National Academy of Sciences Elects 120 New Members For 2025
The National Academy of Sciences has announced the 2025 election of 120 new members and 30 international members.
Election to the academy is for scientists who have been judged by their peers to have made distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Membership in the Academy is widely regarded as one of the highest honors that can be bestowed on a scientist.
With the new members elected this year, the total number of active members now stands at 2,662, and the number of international members is 556. The international members, who are scholars with citizenship outside the United States, are considered nonvoting members of the Academy.
Nominations to be a member of the NAS can be made only by the existing members; there is no membership application process. Following a candidate's nomination, an extensive vetting process is conducted, resulting in a final ballot at the Academy's annual meeting in April each year. Currently, a maximum of 120 members can be elected annually; the maximum number of international members who can be elected is set at 30 each year.
Members are affiliated with scientific discipline in one of six categories:
The full list of the new members can be found here. This year, the new members were elected from a broad array of more than 50 colleges, universities, national laboratories and other research institutions.
Harvard University led the way with nine new members. It was followed closely by the University of California,Berkeley with eight and Stanford University with seven, Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology each had five faculty elected this year, while the California Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania had four new members each.
Several other institutions, including the University of Chicago; the University of Virginia; UCLA; Michigan State University, the University of California, San Francisco; and the University of California, San Diego; had three members each elected to the Academy.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Its mission is to recognize outstanding scientific achievements, foster a broad understanding of science and provide independent, authoritative, scientific advice to the government.
The National Research Council was formed by a presidential executive order from Woodrow Wilson in 1916 to expand the expertise available to the NAS in fulfilling the mission of its original Congressional charter.
Under the authority of that charter, the National Academy of Sciences established the National Academy of Engineering in 1964 and the Institute of Medicine in 1970 (which in 2015 became the National Academy of Medicine).
Today, the three Academies work together as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to 'provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions.' The Academies also encourage education and research and attempt to increase public understanding about science, engineering, and medicine.
The current president of the National Academy of Sciences is Marcia McNutt, who previously served as the 19th editor-in-chief of the Science journals (2013-2016) and director of the U.S. Geological Survey (2009-2013). McNutt is scheduled to give a State of the Science address on June 3 in Washington, D.C., where she will describe the current status of U.S. research and discuss how the scientific community can respond to a new and rapidly changing research environment.
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