Melanie Matchett Wood Elected to Academy of Arts and Sciences

Melanie Matchett Wood—William Caspar Graustein Professor of Mathematics and Director of Graduate Studies—becomes the first female faculty member of the Harvard Department of Mathematics to be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. “It is a great honor to be included in this group of such influential academics, including so many mathematicians who are my role models and inspirations,” Matchett Wood said.

Since its founding, over 14,500 members have been elected to the Academy. Those include Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as a number of other Harvard math department members such as Andrew Gleason, Barry Mazur, and Curt McMullen. The 2024 Induction of the 250 newly elected members will begin on Friday, September 20, and conclude with a final ceremony on Saturday, September 21. It will take place in Cambridge, MA, where the Academy’s headquarters are located.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1780, during the American Revolution, by John Adams, John Hancock, and 60 other scholar-patriots who understood that a new republic would require institutions able to gather knowledge and advance learning in service to the public good. Today, the Academy 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. It values advancing the common good, upholding democratic ideals, elevating the use of evidence and knowledge, fostering deliberative discourse, preserving independence, embracing diversity and inclusivity, and celebrating excellence.