Gould Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Dr. Fred Gould, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Entomology at North Carolina State University, has been elected into the National Academy of Sciences, one of the world’s most important scientific societies.

Gould becomes the ninth current NC State faculty member to be elected into the august scientific society. He is one of 72 new members and 18 foreign associates elected this year.

Gould studies the ecology and genetics of insect pests to improve food production and human and environmental health. One of his research projects involves genetically modified mosquitoes that have reduced capacity to carry and spread dengue fever. He has received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, among others, for his work.

Gould has authored or co-authored 160 refereed publications. He has been invited to present papers at numerous conferences, symposia and seminars.

In 2007, he won the George Bugliarello Prize from Sigma Xi for his article on genetic manipulation of pests for control of human disease vectors. In 2004, Gould received the Alexander von Humboldt Award, which is presented annually to the person judged to have made the most significant contribution to American agriculture during the previous five years.

This year, Gould received NC State’s Holladay Medal, the highest award presented for faculty achievement.

He has served on National Academy of Sciences-National Research Council committees to study the environmental effects of the commercialization of genetically modified plants and develop recommendations on genetically modified pest protected crops. He has also served on Environmental Protection Agency panels on genetically modified crops.

He has supervised 31 master’s degree and Ph.D. students at NC State, served on the thesis committees of more than 40 other students, and mentored 16 post-doctoral researchers.

He is a member of the Entomological Society of America, the Society for the Study of Evolution and Sigma Xi.

Born in New York, Gould earned his bachelor’s degree in biology from Queens College and a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He came to NC State as an research associate in 1978, was named full professor in 1990, and was named Reynolds Professor in 1993.

The National Academy of Sciences is an honorific society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Academy membership is composed of approximately 2,100 members and 420 foreign associates.

NC State also has nine members of the National Academy of Engineering and one member of the Institute of Medicine.

– kulikowski –