CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Two University of Illinois faculty members are among the 72 scientists elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of distinguished research and continuing achievements, the academy announced today.
The Illinois faculty members chosen are David H. Baker, a professor emeritus of animal sciences and of internal medicine, and entomology professor Gene Robinson, who also is the director of the neuroscience program and holder of the G. William Arends Professorship in Integrative Biology.
Election to membership in the academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer. Those elected bring the total number of active members to 1,976.
“This recognition and prestigious honor is yet one more indication of the valuable contributions both of these outstanding researchers have made to their respective fields,” said Chancellor Richard Herman. “We are extremely proud of their accomplishments, which are emblematic of the tradition of excellence at this great university.”
Baker is a leader in the field of animal nutrition and health. He was instrumental in developing a formula to calculate the dietary requirements for chickens and pigs. The formula results in a healthier diet for the animals and one that also reduces the pollution the animals produce. Baker recently took part in research that has shed new light on the reasons for restricted weight gain and reduced muscle mass as a result of chronic respiratory diseases that affect most swine during their critical growing stage. Baker earned a doctorate at Illinois.
Robinson is an internationally recognized entomologist whose work has focused on the honeybee and on genes and social behavior.
Robinson and colleagues, for example, discovered that genes and behavior go together so strongly that an individual bee’s occupation can be predicted by knowing a profile of its gene expression in the brain. A new project Robinson is involved with at Illinois, BeeSpace, will help scientists analyze all sources of information relevant to the mechanisms of social behavior. Robinson earned a doctorate at Cornell University.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to the furtherance of science and its use for the general welfare. The academy was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation, signed by Abraham Lincoln, that calls on the academy to act as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology.
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