Five esteemed professors from Duke University have recently been inducted into the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), recognizing their remarkable contributions to original research. Along with 120 new domestic members and 24 new international members, these distinguished scholars have been celebrated for their exceptional work.
John Aldrich, an Edmund T. Pratt Jr. University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Political Science, focuses his scholarship on American politics and elections. David Beratan, a professor of chemistry and physics at Duke, is developing theoretical approaches to better understand complex molecular and macromolecular systems.
Richard Mooney, a George Barth Geller Distinguished Professor for Research in Neurobiology and a professor of cell biology at Duke, studies songbirds to gain insight into the neural mechanisms that guide learning, behavior, and perception. Tai-ping Sun, a professor of biology at Duke, uses the model plant Arabidopsis to explore the regulation of plant growth and development. Jenny Tung, a professor of evolutionary anthropology and biology at Duke who is also a member of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, is part of a long-term study on social determinants of health using baboons in Kenya. She was named a MacArthur Fellow in 2019.
The National Academy of Sciences is a prestigious private nonprofit institution founded under President Abraham Lincoln’s congressional charter in 1863. Membership is granted based on scientific achievements and provides valuable science policy advice to government agencies as well as the National Academy of Engineering and Medicine. The NAS serves as an independent source for scientific knowledge that informs public policy decisions across various fields such as medicine, engineering, education