National academy elects three from UW-Madison

Three faculty – Larry L. Bumpass, Stephen R. Carpenter and F. Fleming Crim – were elected this morning, May 1, to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

Election to the academy is among the most coveted and prestigious honors in all of science, outshining all other forms of professional recognition save the Nobel Prize.

Bumpass, emeritus professor of sociology and director of the National Survey of Families and Households, is a well-known demographer whose studies of marriage and the family have helped portray key trends in American life. From studies of fertility and cohabitation to the changing structure of the American family, Bumpass has helped chronicle societal trends that are among the most important and personal for millions of Americans. Bumpass has been on the UW–Madison faculty since 1970.

Carpenter, the Halverson Professor of Limnology and a professor of zoology, joined the UW–Madison faculty in 1989. Carpenter is an ecosystem ecologist known for his work on large-scale experiments and adaptive ecosystem management. He has studied food chains and several factors which affect production and nutrient cycling, contaminant cycles, freshwater fisheries, eutrophication, non-point pollution, and ecological economics of freshwater. He is currently president of the 7,600-member Ecological Society of America.

The J.E. Willard and Hilldale Professor of Chemistry, Crim is an authority on chemical reactions at the molecular level. He is also known internationally for developing techniques in spectroscopy for controlling chemical reactions with light.

Crim joined the UW–Madison faculty in 1977.

Crim, Carpenter and Bumpass join 48 other current or emeritus members of the UW–Madison faculty who have been honored with election to NAS. They were elected this morning at the 138th annual meeting of the academy. There are currently 1,874 active members of NAS.

The National Academy of Science is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. Established in 1863 by an act of Congress, NAS is charged with advising the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology.