Four University of Michigan faculty members have been selected to join the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for their significant contributions in scholarly and professional fields.
The academy has announced that James Joyce, Webb Keane, Alexandra (Sasha) Killewald and John Vandermeer are among this year’s new members.
“I am so honored to congratulate the distinguished members of our faculty on their election into this august institution,” President Santa J. Ono said. “We’re so proud of their contributions to the University of Michigan and their fields of the academy, and we look forward to all they will do at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.”
Joyce is the Cooper Harold Langford Collegiate Professor of Philosophy, and professor of philosophy and of statistics in LSA. He has research interests in rational choice theory, causal reasoning, Bayesian approaches to statistics and inductive inference, the use of “imprecise” probabilities to model belief states, and general philosophy of science.
Keane is the George Herbert Mead Distinguished University Professor of Anthropology and professor of anthropology in LSA. He has written about topics in social and cultural theory, and the ethnography and history of Southeast Asia. In particular, he is interested in religion and ethics, semiotics and language, material culture, media, and gifts, commodities and money.
Killewald is the Robert F. Schoeni Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research, professor of sociology in LSA, and director of the Stone Center for Inequality Dynamics. She uses quantitative methods to study inequality in the contemporary United States, with a focus on the relationships among work, family and money.
Vandermeer is the Asa Gray Distinguished University Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in LSA, professor of environment and sustainability in the School for Environment and Sustainability, and professor of Program in the Environment in LSA and SEAS. He studies the role of biodiversity in the functioning of agroecosystems, especially multispecies systems common in tropical areas. His areas of expertise include the spatial ecology of coffee agroecosystems, small-scale sustainable agriculture, biodiversity and food sovereignty.
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The academy, founded in 1780, is both an honorary society that recognizes and celebrates the excellence of its members and an independent research center convening leaders from across disciplines, professions and perspectives to address significant challenges.
