In early May 2022, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in the United States of America University granted professor Bert Meijer international membership of the academy. Membership for non-US citizens is extraordinary. Currently, there are only 13 other living Dutch members. Meijer is the very first TU/e professor to become a member of the NAS.
The American NAS is a private, non-profit society of distinguished scholars established by an Act of Congress, signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. The NAS is charged with providing independent, objective policy advice in the fields of science, engineering and health to the United States government and other organizations. Additionally, the NAS publishes the multidisciplinary scientific serials, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Scientists are nominated and elected to membership by their peers for their outstanding contributions to science.
“I am very pleased and consider it a singular honor to have been elected as an international member of the American National Academy of Sciences,” says Bert Meijer. “This has been made possible thanks to the excellent research of the many former and current group members and colleagues in Eindhoven and elsewhere. I’m very grateful for their continued support and for the excellent scientific and technological environment that has been created by the TU/e and the departments of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, and Biomedical Engineering and by the Institute for Complex Molecular Systems.”
In all, the NAS admitted 120 new American members and 30 international members this year in recognition of their contributions to distinctive and original scientific research. The new members bring the total number of active members to 2,512, supplemented by 517 international members. Among the Dutch members are illustrious scientists like Nobel prize winners Gerard het Hooft, Martinus Veltman en Ben Feringa.
This article was first published on 9 May by TU/e.
Receive the Funding Newswire each Tuesday, our Policy Bulletin each Thursday, and news about bridging Europe’s east-west innovation gap twice a month in The Widening. 
A unique international forum for public research organisations and companies to connect their external engagement with strategic interests around their R&D system.
