By Mike Pena
Beth Shapiro, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, has been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). On April 29, NAS announced that Shapiro was among 120 new members elected from around the country, along with 30 new international members.
An acclaimed paleo-biologist, Shapiro was named a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2023 and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science last April. At UC Santa Cruz’s Paleogenomics Lab, Shapiro uses genetic material recovered from the remains of plants and animals that lived long ago to study evolution and explore how species and ecosystems have changed over time.
She was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator, HHMI Professor, and a 2009 MacArthur Fellow. Shapiro is also an award-winning popular science author and communicator who uses her research as a platform to explore the potential of new genomic technologies for conservation and medicine.
Her most recent book, Life as We Made It, explores the genetic modification of living things in the context of history, archeology, paleontology, and genomics. Shapiro is currently on leave while serving as Chief Science Officer for the startup Colossal Biosciences.
NAS, along with the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine, provides science, engineering, and health-policy advice to the federal government and other organizations. For the full list of new NAS members, read the official announcement.