Veronica Vaida, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry and a fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences this month.
She was elected to the academy in recognition of her exceptional achievements in scientific research. Among the other 218 new members elected this year were U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, actor and director Clint Eastwood, journalist Judy Woodruff and Amazon.com founder and chairman Jeff Bezos.
Founded in 1780, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business and public affairs.
Vaida’s research uses spectroscopy to explore different chemical reactions in the atmosphere, with many of these reactions having environmental implications. She is the 23rd ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ-Boulder faculty member to be elected to the academy.
The academy’s unique strength lies in the distinguished leadership of its 4,600 fellows and 600 foreign honorary members and the wide range of expertise they bring to its multidisciplinary analyses of compelling contemporary issues.
The only other new academy member elected from Colorado this year was Mark Johnston, a professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Denver.
CIRES is a joint institute of ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ-Boulder and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. To learn more about Vaida’s current research, visit her laboratory home page at .
