Diana H. Wall of Colorado State University was among 164 influential artists, scientists, scholars, authors, and institutional leaders who were inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at a ceremony in Cambridge, Mass., on Oct. 11. She was one of five new inductees chosen to present a talk during the ceremony.
Wall, a world-renowned soil ecologist and professor of biology, is only the second faculty member and the first woman from CSU to be inducted into American Academy, one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious learned societies.
She joined Yale physicist Ramamurti Shankar; Massachusetts Institute of Technology sociologist and social networking expert Sherry Turkle; University of Michigan history professor Mary Kelley; and John W. Rogers, Jr., founder, chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Ariel Investments, in addressing the Academy. Yale University law professor John Fabian Witt and Stanford University professor Linda Darling-Hammond read from the Letters of John and Abigail Adams.
View Wall’s address here.
“The Induction Ceremony recognizes the achievements of today’s most accomplished individuals,” said Academy President Jonathan Fanton. “The distinguished women and men who were inducted this weekend have engaged in innovative research, examined every aspect of our society, and continue to pursue solutions to the most pressing challenges of the day. They are all leaders of the respective fields and the Academy offers them an opportunity to work together to advance the common good.”
Members of the 2014 class include winners of the Nobel Prize; the Wolf Prize; the Pulitzer Prize; the Tyler Prize, which Wall received in 2013; National Medal of the Arts; MacArthur, Guggenheim, and Fulbright Fellowships; and Grammy, Emmy, Oscar, and Tony Awards.
About the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Founded in 1780, the Academy is also 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.
