The American Academy of Arts and Sciences today announced the election of 213 new members, including two Johns Hopkins University faculty members, Alex L. Kolodkin, Ph.D., and Andrew J. Cherlin, Ph.D. Also elected was Sanford Greenberg, chair of the board of governors of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. 

Kolodkin is a professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. He has been honored for groundbreaking discoveries in developmental neurobiology. His particular interest is in how the brain is wired, specifically how circuits are assembled and organized, and how connectivity develops.

Cherlin is the Benjamin H. Griswold III Professor of Public Policy at The Johns Hopkins University. His research is in the sociology of families and public policy. He has published books and articles on topics such as marriage and divorce, children's well-being, intergenerational relations, family policy and welfare policy.

Greenberg has diverse business, philanthropic and academic interests. In addition to being on the Wilmer Eye Institute's board of governors, he led the creation in 2012 of the Sanford and Susan Greenberg Prize to End Blindness by 20/20. Greenberg and other major donors to the prize asked the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins to accept $2 million in gold bullion and award it to the person, team or enterprise that does the most to end blindness by the year 2020.

Those elected to the academy are considered some of the world’s most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers and artists, as well as civic, business and philanthropic leaders. Members of the 2016 class include winners of the Pulitzer and Wolf prizes, MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, the Fields Medal, the Grammy Award and the National Book Award.

Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is one of the country’s oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers, convening leaders from the academic, business and government sectors to respond to the challenges facing and opportunities available to the nation and the world. Members contribute to academy publications and studies of science, engineering and technology policy; global security and international affairs; the humanities, arts and education; and American institutions and the public good.