Kunkel signs in at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences ceremony
By Eddy Ball

Kunkel is an NIH distinguished lead researcher, former head of the NIEHS Structural Biology and Molecular Genetics Laboratory, and lead researcher in the NIEHS DNA Replication Fidelity Group. (Photo courtesy of American Academy of Arts and Sciences)
After signing the American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership book Oct. 11 during the academy’s induction ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts, NIEHS lead researcher Thomas Kunkel, Ph.D., found himself in good company.
Signing the book is a tradition for newly inducted members that dates back to 1780, when the academy was founded by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock, and other scholar-patriots to recognize the best and brightest men and women at the cutting edge of the arts and sciences.
The current membership includes more than 300 Nobel laureates, some 100 Pulitzer Prize winners, and many of the world’s most celebrated artists and performers.
The Environmental Factor ran a feature story about Kunkel’s election to the academy when he was officially notified in May.