News
National Academy of Sciences elects Marten Scheffer as a Foreign Associate
The National Academy of Sciences announced 30th April the election of prof. Marten Scheffer as a foreign associate in recognition of his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. The Wageningen professor Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management is together with Ben Feringa of the University of Groningen the only new Dutch associate of the leading American science organisation.
“I feel very honoured. Historically, only fifteen Dutch scientists have been elected into this academy.”, Marten Scheffer says just after the National Academy of Sciences announced the new members and associates. “I received the news indirectly through a heart-warming avalanche of telephone calls and emails from the US.”
Marten Scheffer is an international recognized leader in the science of stability and change of complex systems like ecosystems in lakes, the brain, climate or human society. His research brings new insights in tipping points, the point of no return a system can evolve to. The findings of his research team were published in leading journals as Science, Nature and PNAS. He recently was honoured as Distinguished Professor at Wageningen University & Research.
The Academy elected one hundred new members and foreign associates. Those elected now bring the total number of active members to 2,347 and the total number of foreign associates to 487. Foreign associates are nonvoting members of the Academy, with citizenship outside the United States of America.
The National Academy of Sciences is an American private, nonprofit institution. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and provides science advice to the American government and other organizations.