WASHINGTON — The National Academy of Sciences will honor 20 individuals with awards recognizing their extraordinary scientific achievements in a wide range of fields spanning the physical, biological, social, and medical sciences.

Stanislas Dehaene, NeuroSpin Center, and Vonnie C. McLoyd, University of Michigan, will each receive an Atkinson Prize in Psychological and Cognitive Sciences. With these awards, the Academy recognizes Dehaene for his groundbreaking work on brain circuitry, and McLoyd for her studies on poverty’s impact on human development. Each will receive a $100,000 prize.

Michel H. Devoret and Robert Schoelkopf, Yale University, will receive the Comstock Prize in Physics for their foundational work in quantum science. The award is presented with a $50,000 prize, and $50,000 to support their research.

Ellen E. Wohl, Colorado State University, will receive the G. K. Warren Prize for her extensive and insightful contributions to rivers’ geomorphology. The prize is presented with $20,000.

Robert S. Steneck, University of Maine, will receive the Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal for advancing understanding and conservation of marine ecosystems. The medal is presented with a $50,000 prize.

Edward D. Young, University of California, Los Angeles, will receive the J. Lawrence Smith Medal for his contributions to cosmochemistry and meteor science. The medal is presented with a $50,000 prize.

James Stone, Institute for Advanced Study, will receive the James Craig Watson Medal for his leading contributions to computational astrophysics. The medal is presented with a $25,000 prize, and $50,000 to support the recipient’s research.

Ruslan Medzhitov, Yale School of Medicine and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, will receive the Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal for foundational contributions to the understanding of innate immunity. The medal is presented with a $25,000 prize, and an additional $50,000 for research.

Ben Santer, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and University of California, Los Angeles, will receive the John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science for pioneering new approaches to address global climate change. The award, this year in the area of climate, is presented with a medal and $25,000.

Sylvia Serfaty, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, will receive the Maryam Mirzakhani Prize in Mathematics for her contributions to nonlinear partial differential equations and statistical physics. The award is presented with $20,000.

Eshan Chattopadhyay, Cornell University, and David Zuckerman, University of Texas at Austin, will receive the Michael and Sheila Held Prize for their novel work on randomized algorithms. The prize is presented with $100,000.

Kimberly A. Prather, University of California San Diego, will receive the NAS Award in Chemical Sciences for her pioneering research on aerosols. The award is presented with a medal and $15,000.

Shu-ou Shan, California Institute of Technology, will receive the NAS Award in Molecular Biology for her novel research on molecular mechanisms underlying critical cellular processes. The award is presented with a medal and $25,000.

Terrie M. Williams, University of California, Santa Cruz, will receive the NAS Award in the Evolution of Earth and Life - Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal for her seminal work on the ecological physiology of large mammals. The prize is presented with a medal and $20,000.

Jeffrey Ross-Ibarra, University of California, Davis, will receive the NAS Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences for his studies on the evolutionary genetics of maize. The prize is presented with a medal and $100,000.

Paola Arlotta, Harvard University, will receive the Pradel Research Award for advancing understanding of the principles that govern the development of the brain. The prize is presented with a $50,000 research award to support neuroscience research.

Christopher Harvey, Harvard Medical School, and Jennifer Trueblood, Indiana University Bloomington, will each receive a Troland Research Award. With these awards, the Academy recognizes Harvey for his pioneering work on neural circuits, and Trueblood for her pioneering work on mathematical models of cognitive processing. Each recipient is presented with a $75,000 prize to support their research.

The winners will be honored in a ceremony during the National Academy of Sciences’ 161st annual meeting.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution that was established under a congressional charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and — with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine — provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the federal government and other organizations.

Contact:

Molly Galvin
Director, Executive Communications
Office of News and Public Information
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
202-334-2138
news@nas.edu; www.nationalacademies.org