This autumn, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences inducted its 223rd class of members in a ceremony at Harvard University’s Sanders Theater. Academy officers welcomed 180 new Fellows and Foreign Honorary Members, among them Joan and Ron Conaway, Senior Scientists at the Stowers Institute. The AAAS announced the election of the Conaways last spring. They became members of the Section of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Class of Biological Sciences.

     At the induction ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts, their elections were acknowledged in recognition of their joint contributions to gene transcription. The statement reads, “First complete reconstitution of a mammalian RNA polymerase II transcription system. Co-discovered general transcription factor TFIIH and Elongin, its interaction with the VHL tumor suppressor protein and function of the complex as a ubiquitin ligase.”