Three from U elected to AAAS

Three University faculty members who are experts in environmental policy, mathematics and political science have been named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a prestigious society that recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions in scholarly and professional fields.

U-M recipients are Rosina Bierbaum, Robert Griess, Jr. and Arthur Lupia. The Cambridge, Mass.-based academy welcomed 203 fellows and 24 foreign honorary members last week.

Bierbaum (Photo courtesy SNRE)

Bierbaum, dean and professor in the School of Natural Resources and Environment, is an expert on environmental policy and management, especially global climate change. She has served as a board member for the American Association for the Advancement of Science; the Federation of American Scientists; the Energy Foundation; and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute. She is a national and international leader in the conduct of integrated assessments, was the White House lead for the first National Assessment on the Impacts of Climate Change on the United States, currently co-chairs the United Nations Scientific Expert Group on Climate change, and has completed nine environmental assessments for the U.S. Congress. Bierbaum will host the first National Summit on Adaptation to Climate Change at U-M May 8-10. (See next page).

"It is the greatest honor to be recognized by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, not only as a scientist but as a communicator, synthesizer and public servant," Bierbaum says. "For over 200 years, the academy has tackled complex challenges facing the world by bringing interdisciplinary leaders together in discourse."

Griess (Photo courtesy Robert Griess)

Griess is a mathematics professor whose interests include finite simple groups, Lie theory, vertex operator algebras and integral lattices. He coordinates dozens of
U-M visits by groups of seventh graders every year, believing that positive contact with a professional mathematician can broaden their thinking about math. He was a recipient of a Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award at the University, held a Guggenheim Fellowship, was an invited speaker at an International Congress of Mathematicians and is a member of the American Mathematical Society.

"We are very pleased that Bob has been recognized for his work by fellowship of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences," says Tony Bloch, Department of Mathematics chair. "Professor Griess has been a prominent member of our department for many years and is famous for his construction of the so-called Monster group, which has played an important role in subsequent research in mathematics and mathematical physics."

The Monster group is the largest of the 26 sporadic simple groups, which are the handful of finite simple groups that lie outside the infinite families. They exist because of special circumstances or accidents in group theory, number theory and combinatorics. The great size and extreme special nature of the monster made a construction seem out of reach. Griess did so without use of computers by developing new theories.

Lupia (Photo by Adam Seth Levine)

Lupia is the Hal R. Varian Collegiate Professor of Political Science. He conducts research on topics relevant to politics and policy including voting, elections, persuasion, opinion change, civic education, legislative-bureaucratic relationships and decision-making under uncertainty. He has served in many leadership positions for scientific organizations and currently is principal investigator of the American National Election Studies. He received the 2007 Warren Mitofsky Innovators Award from the American Association for Public Opinion Research, as well as a Guggenheim Fellowship this year for a book that documents the mistakes that advocates, scholars, journalists and other experts regularly make when assessing or trying to improve what citizens know about politics.

"AAAS is a very prestigious organization that is involved in many worthwhile endeavors," Lupia says. "I am thrilled to be selected as a member and I look forward to helping them with their good works."

This year's fellows include former Vice President Al Gore, former Supreme Court Associate Justice Sandra Day O' Connor, New York Mayor and businessman Michael Bloomberg and filmmaker Spike Lee.

The academy will welcome this year's class at its annual induction ceremony in its headquarters Oct. 6.