RPI’s Berman elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
TROY, N.Y. » Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute computer scientist Francine Berman was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Berman was elected along with luminaries, including former First Lady Michele Obama, author Jonathan Franzen, and gender theorist Judith Butler, according to a news release.
Newly elected members for 2019 include more than 200 individuals with compelling achievements in academia, business, government, and public affairs.
“One of the reasons to honor extraordinary achievement is because the pursuit of excellence is so often accompanied by disappointment and selfdoubt,” said David W. Oxtoby, the president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, in the release. “We are pleased to recognize the excellence of our new members, celebrate their compelling accomplishments, and invite them to join the Academy and contribute to its work.”
According to the release, Berman is an international leader in data science whose work has focused on the stewardship, preservation, and cy
berinfrastructure of the digital data on which modern research relies. Her current research explores the social, ethical, and environmental impacts of the Internet of Things.
Officials noted that Berman is a founder of the Research Data Alliance, an international communitydriven organization created to accelerate research data sharing and data-driven innovation worldwide. She is
former director of the San and confirmed by the U.S. Diego Supercomputer CenSenate to become a memter, a fellow of the Associaber of the National Council tion of ComputingMachinery on the Humanities, accord(ACM), a fellow of the Instiing to the release. tute of Electrical and Elec“We are all enormously tronics Engineers (IEEE), proud of Dr. Berman’s elecand a fellow of the American tion to the AAAS, because Association for the Advanceit represents a peak of wellment of Science (AAAS). deserved recognition for
In 2009, officials said Berher leadership of the Reman was the inaugural research Data Alliance, and cipient of the ACM/IEEEfor her dedication to susCS Ken Kennedy Award for tainable digital preservation “influential leadership in the and public access to critical design, development, and dedata,” said Curt M. Breneployment of national-scale man, dean of the Rensselaer cyberinfrastructure.” School of Science, in the re
In 2015, Bermanwas nomlease. “It is deeply signifiinated by President Obama cant that Fran’s contribu
tions are being recognized in this highly visible way, which sets a great example for future leaders in her field.”
The Academy was founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, and others who believed the new republic should honor exceptionally accomplished individuals and engage them in advancing the public good, officials noted.
The Academy’s dual mission remains essentially the same 239 years later with honorees from increasingly
diverse fields and with the work now focused on the arts, democracy, education, global affairs, and science.
The entire roster of new members is available at amacad.org/newly- electedmembers
The new class will be inducted at a ceremony in October 2019 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and join the Academy members who came before them. Learn more about the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at amacad.org.