UNM Distinguished Professor Yemane Asmerom elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences

University of New Mexico Distinguished Professor Yemane Asmerom has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences 2026 class, joining more than 250 leaders across academia, the arts, industry, journalism, philanthropy, policy, research and science as a prestigious member.

"We celebrate the achievement of each new member and the collective breadth and depth of their excellence - this is a fitting commemoration of the nation's 250th anniversary," said Academy President Laurie Patton. "The founding of the nation and the Academy are rooted in the inextricable links between a vibrant democracy, the free pursuit of knowledge, and the expansion of the public good."

Asmerom, who is a distinguished professor in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences within the College of Arts & Sciences, was elected in Class I - Mathematical and Physical Sciences in Section 4, which includes Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Earth Sciences. Only seven other individuals were elected in this section from notable institutions including the University of Cambridge, MIT, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University.

"I have been fortunate enough to have great collaborators, including UNM Research Scientist Victor Polyak and others around the world. My work is very lab-intensive; we would not have made progress without support from organizations around the University: our technical support from the Department, Physical Plant, Office of the Vice President for Research, the College of Arts & Sciences, and many others."

- Distinguished Professor Yemane Asmerom

The election adds to Asmerom's impressive recognition portfolio for his outstanding accomplishments. In 2022, Asmerom was elected as an American Geophysical Union's (AGU) Fellow. He was also previously elected Fellow of the Geochemical Society Fellow of the Geochemical Society and the European Association of Geochemistry in 2016 and made a Fellow of the Geological Society of America in 2015.

Asmerom's research efforts include seminal contributions to the study of climate change. and sea level change to the evolution of the solid earth and early solar system utilizing radiogenic isotopes.

Asmerom had the humblest of beginnings. Born to a poor African farmer in a small village in Eritrea, one of the world's least developed countries His parents moved to a small town after they lost their crop to a locust invasion. Throughout his academics, he was fortunate enough to have teachers who expected the best of him.

"Thanks to the kindness of strangers, I came to this wonderful country with $20 to my name," said Asmerom. "I got the best education anyone could wish for. I came to UNM over offers from much bigger universities because I felt its leadership had a vision that aligned with mine."

Learn more about Asmerom's work and his lab here.

The Academy, chartered in 1780, was established to recognize accomplished individuals and engage them in addressing the greatest challenges facing the young republic. The first members elected to the Academy include George Washington, who said - in his first annual message to Congress in 1790 - "Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness."

"We invite all of our members to celebrate their election and to join in the Academy's work advancing the common good across the arts, democracy, education, global affairs, and science," said Chair of the Board Goodwin Liu, Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court. "Our nonpartisan and interdisciplinary commitment to knowledge and democracy began in 1780 and continues in 2026 with pursuits never more important than they are now. We know such endeavors will be expanded and deepened by these newest members."

The new class joins Academy members elected before them, including Benjamin Franklin (elected 1781) and Alexander Hamilton (1791) in the eighteenth century; Ralph Waldo Emerson (1864), Maria Mitchell (1848), and Charles Darwin (1874) in the nineteenth; Albert Einstein (1924), Robert Frost (1931), Margaret Mead (1948), Milton Friedman (1959), Martin Luther King, Jr. (1966), and Jacques Derrida (1985) in the twentieth; and, in this century, Madeleine K. Albright (2001), Antonin Scalia (2003), Jennifer Doudna (2003), Esther Duflo (2009), John Legend (2017), Anna Deavere Smith (2019), Salman Rushdie (2022), Xuedong Huang (2023), and José Andrés (2025).

Induction ceremonies for new members will take place in Cambridge, Mass., in October 2026.