American Academy of Arts & Sciences Inducts Sheldon Weinbaum

Dr. Sheldon Weinbaum, CUNY distinguished professor of biomedical and mechanical engineering emeritus in City College’s Grove School of Engineering, was among 164 influential artists, scientists, scholars, authors and institutional leaders inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at a ceremony in Cambridge, Mass., Saturday, October 12.

His cohort, the academy’s 223rd class, includes Academy Award-winning actor Sally Field, jazz great Herbie Hancock, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns (elected in 2011), U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and University of Southern California President Max Nikias.

Professor Weinbaum, a member of the City College engineering faculty since 1967, is one of only nine living Americans holding membership in all three U.S. national academies – National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering and Institute of Medicine – in addition to membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Founded in 1780, the American Academy is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious learned societies, and an independent research center that draws from its members’ expertise to conduct studies in science and technology policy, global security, the humanities and culture, social policy, and education.

Since its founding by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots, the American Academy has elected leading “thinkers and doers” from each generation. The current membership includes more than 300 Nobel laureates, some 100 Pulitzer Prize winners, and many of the world’s most celebrated artists and performers.
 
It is organized in five classes with multiple sections: mathematical and physical sciences; biological sciences; social sciences; humanities and arts, and public affairs, business and administration. Professor Weinbaum was elected in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Class, Engineering Sciences and Technologies Section.

Three other City College professors are fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences: Dr. Andreas Acrivos, Albert Einstein distinguished professor of chemical engineering emeritus; Dr. Morton Denn, Albert Einstein Professor of Science and Engineering, and Dr. Myriam Sarachik, distinguished professor of physics.

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Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided low-cost, high-quality education for New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. More than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in: the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture; the School of Education; the Grove School of Engineering; the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, and the Colin L. Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership.  

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