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Twelve UC Researchers Elected to National Academy of Sciences

May 3, 2005

Twelve University of California researchers were elected today
(May 3) to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their
achievements in scientific and engineering research. Election to
the academy is among the highest honors accorded to a scientist or engineer.

The UC researchers were among 72 new members and 18 foreign
associates from 14 countries elected at the academy’s 142nd annual
meeting in Washington, D.C. No other university or college in the
nation or world had more than six new members in this latest election.

Active NAS membership totals 1,976, and with this election, 358
members are affiliated with the University of California.

“Election to the National Academy of Sciences is an exceptional
honor,” said UC President Robert C. Dynes, who himself has been an
NAS member since 1989 (Dynes is a physicist and an expert on
semiconductors and superconductors). “The election of these
researchers confirms once again the strength of our faculty in
mathematics, science and engineering.

“The university’s strong membership in the National Academies
underscores the quality, diversity and breadth of work being
conducted at UC, which is critical to California’s and the nation’s
economic security and global competitiveness.”

In February, the National Academy of Sciences announced that
Ralph J. Cicerone, chancellor of the University of California,
Irvine, campus since 1998, was elected president of NAS, the third
UC leader to serve as the academy’s president. Cicerone, an
atmospheric scientist, is scheduled to take office this July.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private organization of
scientists and engineers dedicated to promoting science and its use
for the general welfare. It was established in 1863 by a
congressional act of incorporation, signed by President Abraham
Lincoln, which calls on the academy to act as an official adviser
to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science
or technology.

For more information about the National Academy of Sciences:

www.nas.edu/

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