On Wednesday, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences announced 250 new members for 2024, including three Brown University academics: Provost Francis Doyle, Professor of Sociology Prudence Carter, and Professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences Greg Hirth.
Doyle wrote that it was “both exciting and humbling” to hear of this nomination. “This is an incredible collection of scholars, and I feel deeply honored to be counted among its members,” he added.
Beyond his role as provost, Doyle is also an engineer with interests in systems biology and biomedical control.
“This involves the application of informatics, computational modeling, and feedback algorithms to both lend understanding to biological regulatory systems and to develop intervention therapies in the form of automated medical devices,” he explained.
For Hirth, the nomination is particularly personal. “My father was elected to the Academy in 2005,” he wrote in an email to The Herald. “I fondly remember that celebration with all of my family in Boston, where my wife and I also announced that she was pregnant with our first child.”
Hirth studies rock deformation, particularly in the mantle and crust, which includes “processes that lead to earthquakes, mountain building, the accumulation of melt beneath volcanic centers and the development of plates and plate boundaries,” he wrote.
Carter heard of her election to The Academy via email immediately after teaching her seminar.
“Initially, I stood motionless, transfixed actually, not believing my eyes,” she wrote in an email to The Herald. “It’s a huge honor to be endorsed by a venerable body of illustrious scholars, artists, and leaders from around the nation and world! I am both humbled and delighted by the AAAS members' endorsement of my scholarship, research and, presumably, other work as a leader.”
Carter, a sociologist, researches education, racism, discrimination, and social inequality.
The Academy “encourages thinkers from diverse fields to engage on various public issues and social problems, both among themselves and with the public,” she wrote. “I am very much looking forward to participating in this capacity and contributing in any other ways that I can.”
Ryan Doherty is a Section Editor covering faculty, higher education and science & research. He is a sophomore concentrating in chemistry and economics who likes to partially complete crosswords in his free time.
