The US National Academy of Sciences announced the election of 84 new members and 21 foreign associates "in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research." At ScienceInsider, Jeffrey Mervis notes that the society "took a big step toward changing their image by inviting a younger and more diverse group of scientists to join them." The new members have an average age of 58 and include 26 women; it is also the largest group of new members. "The idea was that the additional slots would encourage the election of people who would diversify the membership," says Susan Wessler from the University of California, Riverside, who is the NAS home secretary. "And I think it was extremely successful."
Among the new members are the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center's Ronald DePinho, the University of Washington's Evan Eichler, Rachel Green at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Cold Spring Harbor Lab's Gregory Hannon, the University of California, Davis' Harris Lewin, Gisela Storz at the National Institutes of Health, and Subra Suresh at the National Science Foundation. The foreign associates include Uppsala University's Leif Andersson, University of Alabama at Birmingham's Louise Chow, and Ottoline Leyser at the University of Cambridge.