Faculty members Claire Max, professor of astronomy and astrophysics, and Thorne Lay, professor of Earth and planetary sciences, have been elected to internationally renowned academic societies. The announcements were made today.
Max was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of her distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. She joins 12 other UCSC faculty members in the elite academy. (See UCSC press release.)
Lay was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation's oldest and most prestigious honorary societies. He joins 23 other UCSC faculty members as fellows. (See UCSC press release.)
"I am delighted that the National Academy of Sciences has recognized Claire's outstanding achievements by electing her as a member," Chancellor George Blumenthal said. "She has been a pioneer in the development of adaptive optics systems for very large telescopes and in their use for astronomical observations."
Blumenthal said he was "extremely pleased" by Lay's election to the AAAS. "Besides his outstanding teaching and service to the campus, Thorne has made major contributions to our understanding of Earth science in areas ranging from the earthquake rupture process, to the nature of the core-mantle boundary, to how the United States can monitor the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty."
Dave Kliger, executive vice chancellor and campus provost, said he was "very pleased to see the recognition of two of our outstanding faculty members. These are certainly well-deserved honors for both of them."
Bruce Margon, vice chancellor of research, said the elections of Max and Lay are the "latest examples of the growing number of UC Santa Cruz faculty who are at the top of their fields in all disciplines."
Max is a pioneer in the field of adaptive optics, a technology that removes the blurring effects of turbulence in the Earth's atmosphere, allowing telescopes on the ground to see as clearly as if they were in space. Her current research in astronomy involves the use of adaptive optics to study merging black holes at the centers of galaxies.
Lay, an eminent seismologist, has served on many national and international committees, including the board of directors of the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), which operates a global network of seismic monitoring stations. As chair of the board of IRIS, Lay organized the scientific analysis of the great Sumatra-Andaman earthquake of December 2004.
Lay has served as founding director of the UCSC branch of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, (IGPP), director of the Institute of Tectonics, and chair of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. He currently directs the Center for the Study of Imaging and Dynamics of the Earth, part of the IGPP. Lay earned a B.S. in geomechanics at the University of Rochester and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in geophysics at the California Institute of Technology. He joined the UCSC faculty in 1989.
Max directs the Center for Adaptive Optics, headquartered at UCSC. She is among 72 new members of the NAS, a private organization of scientists and engineers established in 1863 by a congressional act of incorporation signed by Abraham Lincoln that calls on the academy to act as an official adviser to the federal government, upon request, in any matter of science or technology.
She is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Max received the E. O. Lawrence Award in Physics in 2004. She earned her A.B. degree in astronomy from Harvard University (Radcliffe College) and her Ph.D. in astrophysical sciences and plasma physics from Princeton University. She joined the UCSC faculty in 1999.
Lay was among 212 new fellows and honorary members in the AAAS, drawn from the sciences, arts and humanities, business, public affairs, and the nonprofit sector. Newly elected members include Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, Nobel Prize winners Linda Buck and Craig Mello, filmmakers Ethan and Joel Cohen, and blues guitarist B.B. King. The AAAS was founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock, and other scholar patriots.
