TAMEST New NAS Members Include First Triple Academy Member in Texas
TAMEST congratulates two new members and two current members on their election to the National Academy of Sciences. The four were among the 120 members and 30 international members elected in 2025 in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Notable among the new elections to the National Academy of Sciences is Lydia E. Kavraki, Ph.D. (NAM, NAE, NAS), of Rice University. With her election to the NAS, she becomes the first TAMEST member to be elected to all three National Academies, a remarkable distinction only 27 other individuals worldwide hold.
“I am deeply grateful and humbled to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences,” said Dr. Kavraki in a news release. “More than an occasion for gratitude and celebration, being elected reinforces my sense of responsibility to mentor and support the next generation of scientists, to guide innovation with care and to ensure that scientific practice remains anchored in human needs and values.”
Margaret Anne Goodell, Ph.D. (NAM, NAS), Baylor College of Medicine, Edith and Peter O’Donnell Awards Committee Chair, who is herself a past recipient of an O’Donnell Award, was also elected to her second academy.
“I feel so very fortunate,” said Dr. Goodell in a news release. “It is a huge honor to be recognized this way. My scientific achievements have been made possible by the exceptional environment … at BCM, including wonderful trainees, colleagues and leaders, all of whom I am very grateful to.”
Both Drs. Goodell and Kavraki are also former TAMEST protégés. The new cohort of NAS members brings our TAMEST membership to 363 members.
Learn more about our new NAS members:
– Mariano Garcia-Blanco, M.D., Ph.D. (NAS), Adjunct Professor, The University of Texas Medical Branch – Galveston; Co-Founder and Board Director, Autoimmunity BioSolutions; F. Palmer Weber Medical Research Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology, School of Medicine, University of Virginia
– Margaret Anne Goodell, Ph.D. (NAM, NAS), Professor and Chair, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine
Dr. Goodell is the 2026 Edith and Peter O’Donnell Awards Committee Chair, a former O’Donnell Award Recipient and past TAMEST Protégé. She is also a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
– Lydia E. Kavraki, Ph.D. (NAM, NAE, NAS), University Professor and Kenneth and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computing, Department of Computer Science, Rice University
Dr. Kavraki is a current Hill Prizes Committee Member, past TAMEST Protégé, past Medicine Co-Chair of the TAMEST 2023 Annual Conference and the first TAMEST Member to be elected to all three National Academies (National Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences).
– James W. Pennebaker, Ph.D. (NAS), Professor Emeritus of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin
TAMEST will celebrate these elections and welcome other new members at the opening reception of the TAMEST 2026 Annual Conference on February 2, 2026, in San Antonio, Texas.
