University of Minnesota: The National Academy of Sciences elects three U of M faculty to membership
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) recently announced the election of University of Minnesota Professors Megan Gunnar, Larry Que and Kristin Hogquist in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Membership in NAS is one of the highest honors given to a scientist or engineer, and recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and—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. Que, Gunnar and Hogquist are three of 120 researchers nationwide to be elected to the Academy this year.
Megan Gunnar is a Regents Professor who has spent her career studying how stress biology affects the human brain and behavioral development and the processes that help children regulate stress and emotions. Gunnar’s lab, The Gunnar Laboratory for Developmental Psychobiology Research studies how children and adolescents regulate stress and emotions.
“Being elected to the National Academy of Sciences is an immense honor,” said Gunnar. “I was delighted that the call came through when I was in my lab meeting with my graduate students as they were able to share the excitement.”
Lawrence “Larry” Que is a Regents Professor and Distinguished University Teaching Professor in the Department of Chemistry. Credited with establishing the University of Minnesota as a world-renowned center of excellence in bioinorganic chemistry, Que also led the effort to establish the University’s Center for Metals in Biocatalysis, which includes faculty and students from multiple departments who share interests in exploring the roles of metals in biology.
“This honor derives from the hard work that many graduate students and postdoctoral associates performed under my tutelage in my labs at the University of Minnesota, as well as my scientific collaborators around the world,” said Que. “The U of M also played a critical role in my own scientific training, as I got my Ph.D. and part of my subsequent postdoctoral training at the Gray Freshwater Biological Institute.”
Kristin Hogquist is a professor and the associate director for the Center of Immunology in the University of Minnesota Medical School. She was named a distinguished fellow of the American Academy of Immunologists (AAI) in 2021. Her decades of scholarship and research have been centered on T cell development in the thymus. Her team at the Hogquist Lab studies how selection processes shape the T cell repertoire to achieve a highly effective and self-tolerant adaptive immune system.
“I was surprised and delighted to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences,” said Hogquist. “It is a great honor that, frankly, reflects the work and talent of all the exceptional trainees I’ve had over the years.”