Election to the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, or the National Academy of Medicine is considered one of the highest professional honors among scientists, engineers, and health professionals. Each year, new members are elected by current members based on outstanding achievement and commitment to service. Visit the NAS, NAE, and NAM membership sites for more information.

Membership Frequently Asked Questions

• Each organization elects new members at their annual meetings. Current membership information is maintained by each institution:

  • National Academy of Sciences

  • National Academy of Engineering

  • National Academy of Medicine

• In all three organizations, elections of new members take place annually, and new members are nominated and voted on by existing members. The number of new members elected is established either by the bylaws or the council of each organization. 

• Election to membership is one of the highest honors that a scientist, engineer, or medical professional can receive. Although no formal duties are involved, members of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering are invited to participate in the governance and advisory activities. Accepting election to the National Academy of Medicine presupposes a willingness to serve on study committees.
  
  Members of all three organizations are encouraged to serve on study committees.

• International members are elected by the same standards that apply to regular members. However, these members do not vote during the election of new members or other deliberations of the Academies.

• Each organization holds an annual meeting in Washington, DC, which includes sessions devoted to business and to scientific and technological issues.

• No. A very few members assume full-time positions within the Academies and receive salaries (nor are their institutions reimbursed for the time that they devote to Academy work). Membership and participation in Academy activities are voluntary. Reimbursement of travel costs and subsistence support is the only compensation provided.

• Florence Rena Sabin (1871–1953), elected in 1925, was the first woman member of the NAS. A physician as well as a scientific investigator, Sabin was noted for her discovery of the origin and processes of the lymphatic system and for her work on tuberculosis.

• David Blackwell (1919–2010) was the first African American elected member of the NAS. Born in Centralia, Illinois, Blackwell was a mathematician and chaired the University of California, Berkeley’s Department of Statistics until his retirement. He published more than 80 papers.

• Edward C. Pickering (1846–1919), only 27 at the time of his election in 1873, is the youngest person elected to the NAS. Pickering was an astronomer whose work in stellar photometry, stellar photography, and stellar spectrum photography won him the Academy’s prestigious Draper medal in 1888.