PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Eight Brown University scholars have been elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the nation’s most prestigious honor societies.
The new members from Brown are Kim Cobb, a professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences and a professor of environment and society; Kwame Dawes, a professor of literary arts; John Diamond, a professor of sociology and education policy; Karen Fischer, a professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences; Christine Janis, a professor emerita of ecology and evolutionary biology; Ashish K. Jha, a professor of health services, policy and practice and dean of Brown’s School of Public Health; George Karniadakis, a professor of engineering and applied mathematics; and Jennifer Nuzzo, a professor of epidemiology.
They are among a class of nearly 250 new members, who include leading thinkers in science, public affairs, business, arts and the humanities. Members are selected through a competitive process that recognizes individuals who have made preeminent contributions to their disciplines and to society.
“The election of these esteemed Brown University faculty members to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is a meaningful recognition of their wide-ranging impact on scholarship and policy to advance solutions to society’s most pressing challenges and opportunities, from climate change and education to public health and machine learning,” Brown University Provost Francis J. Doyle III said. “This distinct honor, which acknowledges the impact of their rigorous research and scholarship, is a testament to the power of academic freedom, in-depth study and free inquiry to advance the knowledge and understanding that is critical to academic excellence.”
Founded in 1780, the academy is one of the nation’s oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers. The new members join a distinguished group of individuals elected to the academy before them, including Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Mead and Martin Luther King Jr. This year’s new class of members features prominent artists, scholars and leaders including José Andrés, Gloria Steinem and Amy Tan.
“These new members’ accomplishments speak volumes about the human capacity for discovery, creativity, leadership and persistence,” said Laurie L. Patton, president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. “They are a stellar testament to the power of knowledge to broaden our horizons and deepen our understanding.”
Brown’s newest members:
Kim M. Cobb
Cobb, who is director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, uses observations of past and present climate to understand and mitigate future climate change impacts, with a focus on climate extremes and coastal flooding. She served as the lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report published in 2021, was a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board during the Biden administration, and currently serves on the Rhode Island Legislative Study Commission on Climate Change Impacts. She is a leading voice in advancing awareness and informing policy on climate change, climate impacts and climate solutions.
Kwame Dawes
Dawes, whose writing and editing work centers the pan-African experience, is the author of dozens of books of poetry, along with several works of fiction, essays and criticism. His 2024 book, “Sturge Town: Poems,” was long-listed for the 2024 National Book Critics Circle award for poetry. He founded and directs the African Poetry Book Fund, a project that promotes the writing and publication of African poetry through a range of activities. Dawes was named as Jamaica’s fourth poet laureate in January 2025.
John B. Diamond
A sociologist of race and education, Diamond studies the relationship between social inequality and educational opportunity, examining how educational leadership, policies and practices operate through school organizations to shape students’ educational opportunities and outcomes. Diamond has published widely in sociology and education journals, has co-authored two books and is a former co-editor of the Sociology of Education journal. He was elected to the National Academy of Education in 2023.
Karen M. Fischer
Fischer is a seismologist who studies the structure and dynamics of the Earth’s interior. She analyzes and models large datasets of seismic data to measure the structure of the crust and mantle, including the properties of the lithosphere and asthenosphere, and the signatures of present-day and ancient plate tectonics, mantle flow, and mantle melting processes. She is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and a recipient of the Harry Fielding Reid Medal from the Seismological Society of America.
Christine M. Janis
A professor emerita at Brown who is now an honorary faculty member at the University of Bristol in the U.K., Janis’ research focuses on the study of fossils to examine mammal evolution over the past 25 million years. She specializes in large herbivores, particularly their community structure and what their anatomy can reveal about past behavior. Her work has shown that a lineage of extinct kangaroos walked bipedally rather than hopped and explained why horses evolved to have only a single toe. In 2024, she was awarded the lifetime achievement award from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Dr. Ashish K. Jha
A practicing physician, Jha has extensively researched how to improve the quality and reduce the cost of health care, focusing on the impact of public health policy nationally and globally. He is a leading adviser on pandemic preparedness and response and served as White House COVID-19 response coordinator during the Biden administration. At Brown, he has expanded on the School of Public Health’s strength in gerontology and alcohol and addiction studies and catalyzed new areas of research including pandemics and biosecurity, health systems and policy, and climate and health. Jha was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2013.
George E. Karniadakis
Karniadakis develops algorithms and mathematical simulations for a wide variety of physical and biological systems. Most recently, he has focused on the creation of machine learning algorithms that incorporate physical laws to solve complex scientific problems, from simulating blood flow in the body to guiding self-driving cars. He is the recipient of numerous awards over this career, including the prestigious Vannever Bush Faculty Fellowship in 2022.
Jennifer B. Nuzzo
Trained as an epidemiologist, Nuzzo focuses her work on global health security, public health preparedness and response, and health systems resilience. In addition to her scholarly work, Nuzzo regularly advises national governments and for-profit and nonprofit organizations on pandemic preparedness and response. She is the director of the Pandemic Center at Brown’s School of Public Health. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2024.
With the addition of Cobb, Dawes, Diamond, Fischer, Janis, Jha, Karniadakis and Nuzzo, a total of 55 current and former Brown faculty members have been elected to the academy. Others include University President Christina H. Paxson, Provost Francis J. Doyle III, Nobel Laureates Leon Cooper and Michael Kosterlitz, and National Medal of Science winner S. James Gates Jr.
Induction ceremonies for new members will take place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in October 2025.
[Editor’s note: The original notification to the University from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences did not include two of the Brown scholars who were elected. The story has been updated to include Kwame Dawes and Christine Janis.]