Highlights:

 This Week in PNAS 
Highlights from the recent edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the Academy's scientific journal

  Biographical Memoirs
Access more than 1,000 biographies of leading U.S. scientists including Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Margaret Mead, Louis Agassiz, and Joseph Henry

News:

  NAE Awards $1.5 Million for Accomplishments in Engineering
Jan. 5, 2009: The National Academy of Engineering will award the Charles Stark Draper Prize to Robert H. Dennard for his invention of Dynamic Random Access Memory. Elmer Gaden will receive the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize for pioneering the engineering of biological reactors for large-scale, low-cost production of antibiotics and other drugs. Tom Byers and Tina Seelig will share the Bernard M. Gordon Prize for advancing education resources in technology entrepreneurship for engineering students and educators.

  Statement Concerning Travel by U.S. Scientists to Iran
Dec. 26, 2008: For eight years, the National Academies have endorsed and coordinated mutually beneficial exchanges and cooperation with our scientific colleagues in Iran. However, due to a recent incident, the NAS, NAE and IOM presidents announced today that they can no longer “sponsor or encourage scientists to visit Iran unless there are clear assurances that the personal safety of visiting scientists will be guaranteed…” It is our hope that assurances will soon be forthcoming that will permit our institution to resume scientific visits to Iran.

  NAS, NAE, and IOM Members to Fill Obama Energy, Climate, and Science Posts
Dec. 23, 2008: U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has selected academy members Steven Chu, John P. Holdren, and Jane Lubchenco as his nominees for secretary of energy, chief science adviser, and administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

  IOM Proposes 20 Optimal Indicators to Measure Nation’s Health
Dec. 17, 2008: Policymakers, the media, and the public should focus on 20 specific health indicators as "yardsticks" to measure the overall health and well-being of Americans. The indicators are intended for the health section of a new Web site that the nonprofit State of the USA Inc. is building to help people to become better-informed and active participants in national discussions about important topics such as health.

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