UAF PROFESSOR ELECTED AS FELLOW TO THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2002

Fairbanks, Alaska – University of Alaska Fairbanks biologist Terry Chapin is one of the newest members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Chapin was inducted into the prestigious organization this year along with such notables as Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy and concert violinist Itzhak Perlman.

“The Academy is pleased to welcome these outstanding and influential individuals to the nation’s most illustrious learned society,” said Academy President Patricia Meyer Spacks. “Election to the American Academy is the result of a highly competitive process that recognizes those who have made preeminent contributions to all scholarly fields and professions.”

Inductees are nominated by current Fellows based on distinction in their field or profession. Nominees are then voted on once by members of their class and once by the entire Academy. Chapin was voted into Class II, for biological sciences. Chapin is no stranger to achievement. He has been published more than 250 times during his career as an arctic biologist, including appearances in the journals “Science” and “Nature.” He has been recognized at UAF and awarded the Emil Usibelli Award for Distinguished Research in 2000 and selected by students as the Outstanding Faculty Member of 2002.

Chapin and other 2002 inductees join an organization known for its inclusion of the finest minds, both past and present. Previous Fellows include Ben Franklin, George Washington and Albert Einstein. The current membership includes more than 150 Nobel laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners.

The Academy will welcome this year’s new Fellows at the annual induction ceremony in Cambridge, Mass. on Oct. 5, 2002. A full list of new members is available on the Academy Web site at http://www.amacad.org/members/new2002list.htm.

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Note to Editors: a photo is available upon request.

CONTACT: Carla Browning, UAF Public Information Officer, at (907) 474-7778 or e-mail carla.browning@uaf.edu.

CM/05-29-02/02-074