Caltech Faculty Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Seven Caltech faculty have been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Frances H. Arnold, Raymond J. Deshaies, Scott E. Fraser, Yizhao T. Hou, Jonathan N. Katz, Hugh David Politzer, and Yuk L. Yung.

The Caltech scientists join 212 new members of the academy, which is one of the nation's most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for independent policy research. Members contribute to academy studies of science and technology policy, global security, social policy and American institutions, the humanities, and education.

"The entire Caltech community takes great pride in our colleagues being elected to this vital American institution," says Caltech president Jean-Lou Chameau. "The diversity of their fields demonstrates the breadth of Caltech's impact on society."

Among the 2011 class of scholars, scientists, writers, artists, and civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders are winners of the Nobel, Pulitzer, and Pritzker prizes; the Turing Award; MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships; Kennedy Center Honors; and Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy awards.

Since its founding in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock, and other scholar-patriots, the academy has elected leading "thinkers and doers" from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the eighteenth century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the nineteenth, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the twentieth. The current membership includes more than 250 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.

The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on October 1 at the academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.