Meet our New Officers and Board Members

The Washington Academy of Sciences elects new board members each year in May.  The new members for 2022-23 are: President – Lynnette Madsen; Treasurer – David Torain; Secretary – Mala Ramaiah; VP for Membership – Mala Ramaiah (acting); VP for Junior Academy – Paul Arveson; At-Large members – Mei Sun, Anne Kornahrens, Judy Staveley, and Mina Izadjoo.  You can see their biographies here.

We are all especially grateful for the dedicated service of outgoing President Ram Sriram, Treasurer Ron Hietala and our hard-working Journal Editor Sethanne Howard!

Awards Banquet 2022 is History!

The Academy’s annual Awards Banquet was held outdoors on May 11 at the Kalypso Sports Tavern in Reston, VA.    We were treated to a beautiful day and a delicious dinner!  About 60 people were in attendance as we handed out award certificates to  eleven extraordinary leaders in science and engineering from the Washington, DC area.  The awardees were as follows:

• Krupsaw Award for Non-Traditional Teaching: Presented by Vijay Kowtha to awardee Ivan Galysh
• Excellence in Research Award in Applied Mathematics: Presented by Timothy J. Burns to awardee Paul Patrone
• Excellence in Research Award in Chemical Engineering: Presented by Joannie W. Chin to awardee Jiann Yang
• Excellence in Research Award in Physical and Information Sciences: Presented by William D. Phillips to awardee Alexey Gorshkov
• Leadership Award for Contributions to Field of Forensic Science: Presented by Lisa Carnahan to awardee Barbara Guttman
• Leadership Award for Developing Science and Engineering Policy: Presented by Ram Sriram to awardee Guru Madhavan
• Leadership Award in Manufacturing Engineering: Presented by Joannie Chin to awardee Kevin Jurrens
• Distinguished Career Award in Biochemistry: Presented by Mike Beidler to awardee Seymour Garte
• Distinguished Career Award in Chemistry: Presented by Christina A. Hacker to awardee Edwin J. Heilweil
• Distinguished Career Award in Computer Science and Policy: Presented by Soundar Kumara to awardee Sethuraman Panchanathan
• Distinguished Career Award in Engineering: Presented by Guru Madhavan to awardee John L. Anderson

Photos and videos of the event are posted here.   Congratulations to all the well-deserving awardees and thanks to their nominators!  

Past Presentations

 The Washington Academy of Sciences now includes on this website an archive of audio, video and slide presentations sponsored or submitted by members of the Academy.    Please visit our presentations page for a list of these fascinating presentations such as our recent one by Vint Cerf, one of the Fathers of the Internet, shares “Lessons from the Internet”. Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet.  Watch his presentation here.

Since 1898, the Washington Academy of Sciences has served as the affiliation of Washington D.C. area scientific societies. The formation of the Academy culminated a decade of planning under the leadership of the Philosophical Society of Washington. The founders included Alexander Graham Bell and Samuel Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The purpose of the new Academy was to encourage the advancement of science and “to conduct, endow, or assist investigation in any department of science.” That purpose guided the Academy throughout its first 100 years and will continue to be our guide through the current century.

The Washington Academy of Sciences has published articles of scientific interest continuously since 1899, first as The Proceedings until 1911, when it became The Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences. The Tables of Contents of 100+ issues of the Journal are listed here.