Four UCLA professors are among the 120 newly elected members of the National Academy of Sciences, which also chose 23 new international members for 2023.
One of the highest honors a scientist can achieve, academy membership celebrates ongoing illustrious original research. The UCLA faculty members who were honored this year are Miguel García-Garibay, Leonid Kruglyak, Gary Segura and Min Zhou.
Miguel García-Garibay
Distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry
García-Garibay, who serves as dean of the UCLA College Division of Physical Sciences and senior dean of the UCLA College, is one of the world’s foremost authorities in reactive intermediates, solid-state organic chemistry, photochemistry, green chemistry and crystalline molecular machines. In addition to serving on the editorial boards of the Journal of Organic Chemistry, Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry and Crystal Growth & Design, he was an associate editor for the Journal of the American Chemical Society for nine years. García-Garibay completed two terms in the Chemical Sciences Roundtable of the National Academies, has been named a fellow of the American Chemical Society, and is a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Leonid Kruglyak
Diller–von Furstenberg Family Professor of Human Genetics
Distinguished professor of human genetics and biological chemistry
Kruglyak studies the genetic basis of heritable traits to understand how changes at the level of DNA are shaped by molecular and evolutionary forces, and how such changes lead to the observable differences among individuals within a species. A Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he also serves on the board of reviewing editors at Science magazine, the editorial board of PLoS Genetics, the advisory board of bioRxiv and the scientific advisory council for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories.
Gary Segura
Professor of public policy, political science and Chicana/o studies
Segura examines issues of political representation and social cleavages, the domestic politics of wartime public opinion and the politics of America’s growing Latino minority. In addition to briefing high-ranking political officials, he was one of the principal investigators of the American National Edition Studies in 2012 and 2016 as well as the Latino National Survey in 2006. During his tenure as dean of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs from 2017 to 2022, Segura co-founded the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative, which later became the Latino Policy & Politics Institute. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Min Zhou
Walter and Shirley Wang Professor of U.S./China Relations and Communications
Distinguished professor of sociology and of Asian American studies
Zhou’s research includes acclaimed work on immigrant transnationalism, ethnic language media, Chinese diasporas and urban sociology. The inaugural chair of the UCLA Department of Asian American Studies from 2001 to 2005, Zhou has been the director of the UCLA Asia Pacific Center since 2016. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the co-editor of the Journal of Chinese Overseas. Among her numerous previous awards are the 2020 Contribution to the Field Award and the 2017 Distinguished Career Award from the American Sociological Association.
Including the new honorees, there are now 2,565 active members of the academy, as well as 526 international members.
The academy was established by an Act of Congress signed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863; it is a private, nonprofit society dedicated to furthering science in the U.S. and beyond. Its distinguished members are charged with providing independent, objective advice to the nation on matters related to science and technology.
