April 30, 2008 | Press Release

James W. Vaupel elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has published the following press release (April 28, 2008):

The American Academy of Arts & Sciences, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious honorary societies and independent policy research centers, today announced the election of a new class of members. Drawn from the sciences, the arts and humanities, business, public affairs, and the nonprofit sector, the 190 new Fellows and 22 Foreign Honorary Members are leaders in their fields and include Nobel laureates and recipients of Pulitzer and Pritzker prizes, Academy and Grammy awards, and Kennedy Center Honors.
Among those elected is James W. Vaupel, Professor and Founding Director of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research.
The 212 scholars, scientists, artists, civic, corporate and philanthropic leaders come from 20 states and 15 countries, and range in age from 37 to 86. Represented among this year's newly elected members are more than 50 universities and more than a dozen corporations, as well as museums, national laboratories and private research institutes, media outlets and foundations. (...)

"The Academy honors excellence by electing to membership remarkable men and women who have made preeminent contributions to their fields, and to the world," said Academy President Emilio Bizzi. "We are pleased to welcome into the Academy these new members to help advance our founders' goal of 'cherishing knowledge and shaping the future.'"
An independent policy research center, the Academy undertakes studies of complex and emerging problems. Its diverse membership of scholars and practitioners from many disciplines and professions gives the Academy a unique capacity to conduct a wide range of interdisciplinary, long-term policy research. Current studies focus on science, technology and global security; social policy and American institutions; the humanities and culture; and education.
"For 228 years, the Academy has served the public good by convening leading thinkers and doers from diverse perspectives to examine - and provide practical policy solutions to -- the pressing issues of the day," added Chief Executive Officer and William T. Golden Chair Leslie Berlowitz. "I am confident that this distinguished class of new members will continue that tradition."
The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on October 11, at the Academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots, the Academy has elected as members the finest minds and most influential leaders 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 some 200 Nobel laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.

(Abbreviated version; full text: http://www.amacad.org/news/new2008.aspx)