Six UCLA faculty will soon join George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill and other noted thinkers and policy makers as fellows in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
The six faculty members elected to the academy this year are Eric Becklin, Rogers Brubaker, William Gelbart, Stanley Osher, Sanjay Subrahmanyam, and Terence Tao, an academic group that ranges in specialties from sociology to mathematics.
Around 200 new fellows, who were announced last week, were nominated for their contributions to their field and to society at large. They are chosen to join the academy each year, said Paul Karoff, chief communications officer for the academy. Karoff said that the group was unique in several ways. First, it serves as an independent research center as well as an honor society.
“We draw on members and fellows to help with research across a wide range of areas, and the core of our service to the country is that research,” he said.
Secondly, Karoff said the society is one of the only interdisciplinary academies, selecting fellows from a wide range of fields including physical and social sciences, law, humanities and nonprofits.
“Part of the academy’s purpose is to facilitate cooperation between fields,” he said.
This cooperation is necessary to conduct successful public policy research in areas such as science policy, global security, education, and the humanities, Karoff added.
This interdisciplinary approach is of particular interest to William Gelbart, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry elected to join the academy as a fellow this year.
“I love science more than anything else professionally,” he said. “But I greatly appreciate the contributions in the arts and sciences to society, and it fascinates me to think about how I might be able to work with people from other fields.”
Terence Tao, a professor of mathematics who was also elected to join the academy this year, said that particular problems such as global warming facing today’s scientists and policy makers make this type of interdisciplinary cooperation a necessity.
“That is the trend in science today,” he said. “The problems we work with are much more complex, and we need to cooperate with people from other fields.”
Karoff said that the election process for the academy is an extensive one which takes place over the course of the entire year. Potential fellows are nominated by current members of the academy, who also vote on which candidates will ultimately be given membership, Karoff said.
Subrahmanyam, director of the Center for India and Southeast Asia, said that his election to the academy initially took him by surprise, as the organization does not notify nominees of their consideration as fellows.
Despite his surprise, Subrahmanyam said he was very pleased to be chosen as a member of the academy.
While Subrahmanyam noted that it was too early to know exactly what his role in the academy would be, he said he was most looking forward to connecting with some colleagues he already knows in the academy, as well as collaborating with members from other fields and from the international community.
“It’s good to have an institution that is comprehensive in its claims and attempts to recognize people from across the board … as these fields can get fragmented even at the university level,” Subrahmanyam said.
Stanley Osher, the director of applied mathematics, said he looked forward to participating in interdisciplinary projects as a member of the academy, and that he would particularly like to focus on policy implementation, providing more careers for students completing their doctoral and post-graduate studies.
“I was flattered and surprised and honored,” he said of his selection.
Karoff said that in addition to participating in research and aiding in the election of new fellows each year, the new members may be asked to write for publications such as the academy’s monthly journal, to speak at meetings or events held by the group, or to participate in the society’s governance.
“It is a very prestigious thing for one to be elected to the academy, and we are very proud of our members,” he said.
The academy’s newly elected fellows will be honored with an induction ceremony in Cambridge, Mass. in October.