UC SANTA CRUZ CHANCELLOR KARL PISTER AND ASTRONOMER JOSEPH MILLER NAMED TO AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SANTA CRUZ, CA--Chancellor Karl S. Pister and astronomer Joseph S. Miller of the University of California, Santa Cruz, have been elected fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Membership in the academy, an international honorary society based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of the highest honors there is for scientists, artists, public figures, and scholars.
Pister and Miller are joined by composer Philip Glass, historian David McCullough, author Jane Smiley, and 205 other individuals elected this year to the academy, which was founded in 1780 by John Adams and other leaders of the American Revolution. The group's purpose, as stated in its original charter, is "to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people." Its current membership is about 4,000 fellows and 600 foreign honorary members.
A professor of engineering science, Pister came to the Santa Cruz campus from UC Berkeley, where he was a highly regarded member of the faculty of the College of Engineering. He served as dean of the college from 1980 until 1990. Pister specialized in the mechanics of solids and structures, earthquake engineering, and optimization-based, computer-aided design of dynamically loaded structures. He joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1952.
A native of Stockton, California, Pister earned his B.S. in civil engineering from UC Berkeley in 1945 and his master's degree in the same field three years later. He received his Ph.D. in theoretical and applied mechanics from the University of Illinois in 1952.
Pister is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Academy of Mechanics and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He is also a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Society for Engineering Science, and the American Society for Engineering Education. Pister was twice named a Fulbright Scholar, and in 1985 he was appointed the first holder of the Roy W. Carlson Chair in Engineering at UC Berkeley.
Miller, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics, has served as director of UC Observatories/Lick Observatory since 1991, overseeing the operation of Lick Observatory near San Jose and the University of California component of the new W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, home to the world's largest optical telescope. An expert in astronomical instrumentation, Miller has helped develop important observing tools for the Keck Telescope and other major telescopes.
Miller's scientific research concerns extremely luminous objects beyond our Milky Way galaxy, including quasars and the dynamic centers of galaxies. The aim of his research is to investigate the nature of the central energy sourceswhich are among the most powerful objects in the universeas well as the environment around the sources.
Miller received his B.A. in astronomy and physics from UCLA and his M.S. and Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Wisconsin. He came to UCSC as a postdoctoral fellow in 1967 and joined the faculty in 1968. He was assistant director of UCO/Lick from 1981 to 1991.
(This release is also available on UC NewsWire, the University of California's electronic news service. To access by modem, dial 1- 209-244-6971.)
Press Releases Home | Search Press Releases | Press Release Archive | Services for Journalists
Maintained by:pioweb@cats.ucsc.edu