Date: April 29, 2003 WASHINGTON -- The National Academy of Sciences today announced the election of 72 new members and 18 foreign associates from 11 countries in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. The election was held this morning during the business session of the 140th annual meeting of the Academy. 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 today bring the total number of active members to 1,922. Foreign associates are nonvoting members of the Academy, with citizenship outside the United States. Today's election brings the total number of foreign associates to 341. 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. It was established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation, signed by Abraham Lincoln, which calls on the Academy to act as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology. Additional information about the institution is available on the Internet at http://national-academies.org. A full directory of NAS members can be found online at http://national-academies.org/nas. Dr. Van Etten is a William Allington Distinguished Professor of Plant Pathology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Co-director of the Nebraska Center for Virology. His election was the result of his research on the discovery and continued characterization of a new family of large dsDNA viruses that infect certain eukaryotic chlorella-like green algae. Genetically these are among the most complex viruses found to date; they contain ~375 protein-encoding genes and 11 tRNA encoding genes. Election to membership in the Academy is considered one of the highest honors that can be accorded a U.S. scientist or engineer. For more information about Dr. Van Etten, visit his page on this website and also see: http://plantpath.unl.edu/faculty/VanEtten/profile.html. | 
