UW News

September 30, 2010

Eight UW professors elected to Washington State Academy of Sciences

Eight UW professors are among 17 scientists newly elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing scientific achievements. The new members were inducted into the academy Sept. 16. Those elected bring the total number of active members to 128.


The Washington State Academy of Sciences provides expert scientific and engineering analysis to inform public policy-making, and works to increase the role and visibility of science in the State of Washington.


Additional information about the Academy and its members is available online here.


The UW faculty members elected are:


  • James Champoux, professor and chair of microbiology
  • Ray Hilborn, Richard C. and Lois M. Worthington Professor of Fisheries Management
  • Charles Hirschman, professor of public affairs and Boeing International Professor of Sociology
  • David Kaplan, professor of physics and director of the Institute for Nuclear Theory
  • Margaret Levi, Jere L. Bacharach Professor of International Studies and director of the CHAOS (Comparative Historical Analysis of Organizations and States)
  • Andrew Meltzoff, professor of Psychology, Job and Gertrud Tamaki Endowed Chair and co-Director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences
  • Theodore Pietsch, professor of aquatic &fishery sciences and curator of fishes at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
  • Thomas Quinn professor of aquatic & fishery sciences


This is the first year the Washington State Academy of Science has had a direct election process. It previously accepted members who were elected to the National Academies of Science and Engineering and the Institute of Medicine, and will continue to do that. UW members who became members of the state academy by virtue of their election to national academies in 2009 and 2010 include:



  • Don Brownlee, professor of astronomy and principal investigator for Stardust, a NASA Discovery mission that captured comet particles and returned them to earth.
  • Caroline Harwood, professor of microbiology.
  • Patricia Kuhl, Endowed Chair, Bezos Family Foundation for Early Childhood Learning and co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, director of the NSF Science of Learning Center and professor of speech & hearing sciences.
  • Matthew O’Donnell, Frank & Julie Jungers Dean of Engineering.
  • Adrian Raftery, Blumstein-Jordan Professor of Statistics and Sociology.
  • Elizabeth Thompson, professor of statistics.
  • Phyllis Wise, interim president and professor of physiology and biophysics, biology, and obstetrics and gynecology