Awards

Call for Nominations

Nominations are now being accepted for the NAS Awards to be presented in 2027. Awards will be presented in a variety of fields including biochemistry, computer science, geology, solar physics, and more. Unless otherwise specified, preference will be given to early-career scientists and those whose work hasn’t been recognized by other large prizes or awards. Nominations will be accepted online through Monday, October 5.

Please help spread the word that the nomination process is underway. Questions? Contact awards@nas.edu.

Previous NAS Award Recipients Honored With Inaugural ICBS Medal

The 2026 International Congress of Basic Science (ICBS) has presented its inaugural ICBS Medal, recognizing researchers whose transformative work—documented over at least a decade—represents the current frontier of mathematics, physics, and engineering. Among those honored were previous NAS award recipients Feng Zhang and Xiaowei Zhuang. Read more about their ICBS Medals here.

Xiaowei Zhuang received the 2019 NAS Award for Scientific Discovery for her pioneering contributions to the development of super-resolution imaging and genomic-scale imaging methods. She also received the 2015 NAS Award in Molecular Biology for developing stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM), a high-resolution microscopy method that achieves molecular-scale resolution by bypassing the diffraction limit that has long constrained light microscopy. In addition, Zhuang developed photoswitchable fluorescent dyes that have made this method a powerful tool in biological research and neuroscience.

Feng Zhang received the 2021 Richard Lounsbery Award for pioneering achievements in genome editing, including the discovery of novel CRISPR systems and their development as molecular tools.

Awards Listing

Since 1886, the National Academy of Sciences has honored more than 1,000 individuals in the physical, biological, and social sciences through its awards program.