Three members of the faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences were among the 60 new members of the National Academy of Sciences elected this year.

Douglas S. Massey, the Dorothy Swaine Thomas Professor of Sociology, has received numerous awards and honors for his research and writing on residential segregation in America, including three major awards for his 1994 book "American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass."

He has also conducted the largest and most complex study ever undertaken of migration from Mexico to the United States, culminating in his book "Miracles on the Border," which recently received the Southwestern Book Award. Massey is also past president of the Population Association of America.

Paul Steinhardt, the Mary Amanda Wood Professor of Physics, has made important contributions to two distinct areas of physics: theoretical cosmology, in which his work has illuminated aspects of the universe's birth and early development, and condensed matter physics, where he predicted a new form of matter known as quasi-crystals.

Steinhardt has written hundreds of papers and several books on both subjects, including "Inflationary Cosmology" and "Quasicrystals: The State of the Art." He has held Guggenheim and Sloan Fellowships and, along with Philip Taylor, holds numerous patents for methods and devices for eliminating moiré interference using quasiperiodic patterns.

Lewis Tilney, Strausz-Hupe Term Professor of Biology, is known for his work on the fundamental mechanisms that determine cell motion and shape, most notably components known as actin filaments. Tilney has studied the structure and development of these filaments using a wide range of observational tools and has written more than 120 papers on the subject.

His current research is focused on the formation of bristles in Drosophilia pupae as a means of understanding how actin filaments bundle together and help determine cell form.

"I am delighted that three distinguished members of our faculty were recognized for their scientific achievement by election to the most prestigious society of scientists in the world," said SAS Dean Samuel Preston." Their election is indirect testimony to the exceptional quality of research programs throughout the School. I am very proud of them and of the School."