Three Rutgers Scientists Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Rutgers University scientists Eva Y. Andrei, Dennis V. Kent and Alexander B. Zamolodchikov have been elected to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honorary societies and a leading center for independent policy research.

Andrei is a professor II in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Kent is a Board of Governors Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Zamolodchikov is a Board of Governors Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. All are in the Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences.

Andrei studies the electronic properties of graphene, a one-atom thick membrane of crystalline carbon with extraordinary electronic properties that could one day be at the heart of speedy and powerful electronic devices. In 2009, the journal Science cited her findings in its list of the year’s 10 groundbreaking scientific achievements. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Physical Society. She holds the Medal of Physics from CEA, a French government research organization. In 2010, she received the Rutgers Board of Trustees award for Excellence in Research.

Kent is an internationally recognized authority on Earth magnetism. His research focuses on magnetic events such as polarity reversals preserved in rocks. He also studies paleoclimatology and advocates the theory that a comet striking the Earth 55 million years ago triggered the last great greenhouse-induced episode of global warming. According to the ScienceWatch analysis service, Kent is one of the world’s most highly cited earth scientists. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the Geological Society of America, the American Geophysical Union and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Zamolodchikov creates mathematical models that describe two major endeavors of modern physics: condensed matter physics and string theory. The first explores the fundamental properties of materials. The second aims to provide a unified understanding of the basic forces and fundamental particles in nature, including gravity, electromagnetism and forces responsible for the stability and decay of atomic nuclei. He has authored several classic papers in mathematical physics, and has been awarded the Dannie Heineman prize, the Onsager prize and the Dirac medal. He is a co-founder of Rutgers New High Energy Theory Center, an internationally recognized group in the development and exploration of string theory.

The three Rutgers scientists are among 220 scholars, scientists, writers, artists, civic, corporate and philanthropic leaders selected to join the academy this year. Members contribute to academy studies of science and technology policy, global security, social policy and American institutions, the humanities and education.

“Election to the academy is both an honor for extraordinary accomplishment and a call to serve,” said Academy President Leslie C. Berlowitz. “We look forward to drawing on the knowledge and expertise of these distinguished men and women to advance solutions to the pressing policy challenges of the day.”

With these three new appointments, 21 Rutgers faculty are members of the academy. The new class will be inducted at a ceremony on Oct. 6 at the academy's headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

Since its founding in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots, the academy has elected leading “thinkers and doers” from each generation, including George Washington and Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the 19th, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the 20th. The current membership includes more than 250 Nobel Laureates and more than 60 Pulitzer Prize winners.