Astrobiologists Elected to National Academy of Sciences

This year’s list of members elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) includes a number of researchers who are either currently receiving funding from the NASA Astrobiology Program, or have received awards in the past. These individuals have led research efforts that have provided important contributions to our understanding of the origins of life on Earth and the potential for life in the Universe.

Newly elected members with support from NASA Astrobiology include:
William Borucki, NASA Ames Research Center
Francis Nimmo, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz
Roger Summons, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Veronica Vaida, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder

Newly elected international members
Bo Barker Jorgenson, Center for Geomicrobiology, Aarhus University (Denmark)

Click here to view the complete list of the NAS’s 120 newly elected members (plus an additional 26 international members).

The NAS is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization created in 1863 with the Congressional Act of Incorporation, which was signed by Abraham Lincoln. The NAS forms one part of the broader National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.