Edward Egelman, PhD
Edward (Ed) H. Egelman, PhD, Harrison Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics, has been elected to the American Academy of Art and Sciences. Dr. Egelman is among the 252 inductees in this year’s class, which also includes UVA’s James N. Galloway, PhD, of the College of Arts & Sciences. Inductees are top leaders in academia, the arts, industry, journalism, philanthropy, policy, research and science.
Dr. Egelman’s work focuses on using cryo-electron microscopy and 3D modeling to map out the world that is far too small for even the most powerful light microscopes to see. His research has primarily targeted protein filaments and protein-DNA complexes. The scope of his work expanded dramatically after he developed techniques that now enable the routine determination of the atomic structure of helical structures common in nature, such as the hair-like pilli on the surface of pathogenic bacteria. He was previously elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors a scientist can receive, and is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Biophysical Society, the American Academy of Microbiology and the European Academy of Microbiology.
“This is truly a great honor for me,” Dr. Egelman said, “but it was only possible due to the students and postdoctoral fellows in my lab and my collaborators from around the world.”
The American Academy of Arts & Sciences was chartered in 1780 to recognize accomplished people and enlist them in addressing the greatest challenges facing the nascent republic. More than 14,500 members have been elected since, including such luminaries as Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Robert Frost, Margaret Mead and Martin Luther King Jr.
One of the first members was George Washington, who told Congress in 1790: “Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.”
A complete list of this year’s inductees is available on the Academy’s site.
Filed Under: Honors & Awards