Five professors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have been chosen for the National Academy of Sciences in 2025.
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS), a prestigious private, nonprofit institution established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, has recently announced the election of 120 members and 30 international members. Among them are five faculty members and thirteen alumni from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Notable among the MIT faculty members is Scott Sheffield, the Leighton Family Professor of Mathematics, who is a probability theorist, working on geometrical questions in statistical physics, game theory, and metric spaces, among others. Sheffield, who received his PhD in mathematics from Stanford University in 2003, has made key contributions to our understanding of the history of our solar system. His insights include discoveries about the early nebular magnetic field, the moon's long-lived core dynamo, and asteroids that generated core dynamos in the past. In 2017, Sheffield received the Clay Research Award with Jason Miller, and in 2023, he received both the Frontiers of Science Award and the Leonard Eisenbud Prize with Miller.
Parag Pathak, the Class of 1922 Professor of Economics and a founder and director of MIT's Blueprint Labs, was also elected. Pathak's research focuses on the economics of education, health, and labour markets, and he has made significant contributions to the design and analysis of randomised controlled trials, policy experiments, and field experiments.
In addition to Sheffield and Pathak, the five MIT faculty members elected include Rodney Brooks, the Panasonic Professor of Robotics Emeritus at MIT and the chief technical officer and co-founder of Robust AI, Benjamin Weiss, the Robert R. Schrock Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at MIT, and Yukiko Yamashita, a professor of biology at MIT, a core member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). The specific fields of expertise of Weiss and Yamashita are not explicitly stated in the provided text.
Thirteen MIT alumni were also elected to the NAS. These include David Altshuler, Rafael Camerini-Otero, Kathleen Collins, George Daley, Scott Doney, John Doyle, Jonathan Ellman, Shanhui Fan, Julia Greer, Greg Lemke, Stanley Perlman, David Reichman, and Risa Wechsler. Detailed information about their respective fields of expertise was not provided in the search results.
The NAS, along with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine, provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations. For a full, accurate, and up-to-date list of those elected, I recommend directly consulting MIT’s news releases or the official National Academy of Sciences announcements, since this information is typically publicly announced but was not included in the given search context.
- Scott Sheffield, a graduate of Stanford University, is a faculty member at MIT, recognized as the Leighton Family Professor of Mathematics.
- Sheffield works on geometrical questions in statistical physics, game theory, and metric spaces, among other subjects, contributing to our understanding of the solar system's history.
- In 2017, Sheffield received the Clay Research Award with Jason Miller, and in 2023, he attained both the Frontiers of Science Award and the Leonard Eisenbud Prize with Miller.
- Parag Pathak, the Class of 1922 Professor of Economics at MIT, also received election into the NAS.
- Pathak's research focuses on the economics of education, health, and labor markets, and he has contributed significantly to the design and analysis of randomized controlled trials, policy experiments, and field experiments.
- MIT faculty members Rodney Brooks, Benjamin Weiss, and Yukiko Yamashita were also elected to the NAS, but their specific fields of expertise were not explicitly stated in the given text.
- Brooks is the Panasonic Professor of Robotics Emeritus at MIT and the co-founder of Robust AI.
- Detailed information about the fields of expertise of Weiss and Yamashita was not provided in the search results.
- Thirteen MIT alumni were elected to the NAS, including David Altshuler, Rafael Camerini-Otero, Kathleen Collins, etc., but their respective fields of expertise were not specified.
- The NAS provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations, along with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine.
- To gather full information about the elected members' fields of expertise, it's best to directly consult MIT’s news releases or the official National Academy of Sciences announcements.
- Engineering, climate, society, health, politics, science, physics, medicine, robotics, education, materials, biology, and mental health all play essential roles in the research and ideas of the elected members.
- In addition, alumni contributions to the fields of space and astronomy, technology, and self-development can also be expected, as seen in the accomplishments of Sheffield and Pathak.
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