IRVINE : UCI Professor Named to Academy of Sciences
A UC Irvine anthropologist has been selected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, university officials announced Wednesday.
A. Kimball Romney, professor of social sciences and anthropology, is one of two anthropologists and one of about 60 scientists who were selected to join the academy this year.
“UCI, for a while, has talked about the pursuit of excellence and distinction, and one of the most universally recognized standards of distinction is election into the National Academy of Sciences,” said William Schonfeld, dean of the school of social sciences. “And for Romney, it is a recognition of his scholarship.”
The National Academy of Sciences is a private organization of biologists, chemists and other researchers dedicated to promoting science. It has 1,733 current members, and was established in 1863 as an advisory body to the federal government, UCI spokesman Scott Nelson said.
Romney was once dean of social sciences at UCI and has a long history at the university, where he started working in 1968. He has studied child development in Oaxaca, Mexico, and conducted field research in Guatemala, Nelson said. His studies have been published in more than 70 scientific journal articles.
His selection means UCI has 14 National Academy of Sciences members, Nelson said. The latest UCI scientist who was selected to the society was Ralph Cicerone, an atmospheric chemist, in 1991.
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