It Is a Singular Honor — Previous Year

Transcription:

Dear Academy of Arts and Sciences,

It is with great humility and gratitude that I accept your invitation to join the Academy. As a lifelong student of the arts and sciences, I am honored to be recognized by such an esteemed institution.

To join the company of such a distinguished body of members, including Alexander Hamilton, is not lost on me. The history of this organization is a powerful reminder of the enduring legacy of creativity and innovation, and of the profound impact that the arts and sciences can have on our society.

I believe that art has the power to inspire, to educate, and to change hearts and minds. Through my work, I have used storytelling to explore the complexities of the human experience and to work toward creating a more just and equitable world. I am excited to join the Academy and to contribute to its mission of advancing knowledge and promoting excellence in the arts and sciences.

Thank you again for this incredible honor. I look forward to collaborating with my fellow Academy members and to continuing the important work of creating art that can change the world.

Siempre,

Lin-Manuel Miranda

[signed]

Transcription:

When I latched on to Zora Neal Hurston’s “great journey to the horizons in search of people,” little did I realize that journey would lead me to being elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. And I am truly honored beyond any of the words I have accumulated on that journey. But what I know for sure is that I have so many to thank for this moment, for when I look back over my 60 -plus years of asking questions and writing there is no question that in my case I stand on the shoulder of giants…starting when I used to sit at my Grandmother’s knee everyday when she would hand me the comics while she read the other parts of the three newspapers that were a part of her busy daily ritual. And that’s where I got my first inspiration to take that great journey.

Yes, I latched on to the adventurous life of Brenda Starr who travelled the world in search of people to report on. And that’s when even at five years old, I decided that was the life I wanted. And amazingly, when I told my Mother, Althea that I wanted to grow up to be like Brenda Starr, well, her response bore no resemblance to our legal reality for these were still the days of segregation, of separate and definitely unequal… when our all Black school used to get the hand me down textbooks from the white schools, often with pages missing. But my Mother didn’t let that keep her from encouraging my young dream at the time, for what she said and how she said it, was all I needed to start my great journey to the horizons… for she didn’t tell me that wasn’t the dream a little Black girl should be dreaming, given the existing discriminatory laws. All she said, almost nonchalantly, was:

“If that’s what you wanna do.”

Then not long after that, I came upon another role model in my segregated Black school and whose history showed me the importance of finding my people people [sic] on that journey … people who had either not been found or who were not portrayed as they should have been: as full human beings, citizens of a country that had yet to recognize them in that way. And it was in Black segregated schools that I learned about Ida B. Wells, a pioneering Black journalist who used every tool she possessed to expose sexism, racism, and violence, primarily against people of color. Starting with those two women and women like my Mother and Grandmother who boarded a train where the people who looked like me had to sit in a separate car where they didn’t have access to food that the others were enjoying, but where they shared the fried chicken and biscuits and other delicious “Black“ food probably better than in the other cars. . And when we arrived in New York City, the people I found there spoke a lilting language I had never heard and played hopscotch , with the boxes drawn with white chalk, but on the paved Harlem street, unlike the red clay I played it on back home, but with the same youthful enthusiasm.

Yes, throughout my journey there have been people who offered me their shoulders to stand on and I found them all over the world. And it is to each and every one of them that I express my deepest appreciation, for I would not be in this wonderful, inspiring group of honorees without them. Yes, I happily stand, for sure, on the shoulders of giants who kept on keeping on to make this world a better place. And we must continue to make sure that our history continues to be taught to all, regardless of race, creed, color or sexual orientation… for no matter the age of the recipients, that history is armor that we all need for the current and coming conflicts. I am grateful to now stand with so many in this wonderful organization who also inspire me to keep on keepin on as they have... And my promise is to continue to underscore and strengthen that proud heritage on my great journey. Yes, as the PK that I am and was taught at an early age: God is good… ALL the time!

And I am deeply grateful to the Academy for giving me one more reason to say that. 

Transcription:

Thank you for the honor of being elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. I gratefully accept your invitation to join this great institution. As an immigrant and later citizen, I have experienced the American experiment as a student, physician, scientist, teacher and academic leader. There have been a wide range of challenges, opportunities and triumphs. Many thanks to my family, friends, mentors, trainees and colleagues, for sharing their love, support and time. It’s been a fantastic journey.

In honor of my election, I would like to share my guiding philosophy highlighting four adinkra symbols from my native country, Ghana. I look forward to meeting and working with members and leaders of the Academy.

[transcriptions for images, left to right:]
“Nea onnim no sua a ohu”
One who does not know can know by learning
Knowledge

“Nyansapo”
Wisdom knot
Ingenuity
Intelligence

“Boa me na me boa wo” 
Help me to help you
Interdependence
Cooperation

“Akoben” 
War horn
Vigilance
Preparedness for action

Best wishes,

[signed]

Rexford S. Ahima, MD, PhD

Transcription:

Dear Dr. Andrews and Dr. Oxtoby,

I am beyond thrilled to have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. I enthusiastically accept membership. I’m awed to be in the company of so many people in the field of journalism and other vocations whose work has so deeply inspired mine.

Given the Academy’s mission to bring together leaders in fellowship “to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people,” this election is particularly meaningful to me. Throughout my decades-long journalism career, and especially with my more recent shift to opinion and solutions-focused journalism, this principle has been my lodestar. I was inspired to enter this field by the work of Ida B. Wells, who saw journalism as a way not simply to report facts and issues, but also to bring justice to where it is needed. “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them,” Wells wrote.

I believe journalism can do more than just bring injustices into better focus. It can serve to identify and explore workable solutions to inequalities and pressing societal problems. Such work can also underscore the fact that a more just world benefits everyone in it. To be honest, pursuing this work can sometimes feel futile, and often leads to discouragement – especially in the current political and cultural climate. But the fact that this work has been valued by my peers and honored by my election to the Academy fills me with pride and helps propel me forward.

I look forward to engaging with other members in furtherance of this important goal.

With sincere gratitude,

Kimberly Atkins Stohr

Transcription:

Dear Madam Chair Andrews and Mr. President Oxtoby,

I am delighted to enthusiastically accept your invitation to join the Academy.

I accept this invitation thinking of the Anishinaabeg that came before me and those who will come later.

Mino-bimaadiziwin. Miigwetch.¹

Matthew L. M. Fletcher

¹ Loose translation: “The good life. Thank you.”

Transcription:

Dear Dr. Andrews and Dr. Oxtoby,

It is with great pleasure and humility that I accept membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. I am truly honored to be recognized for my contributions in speech, natural language, vision, and intelligent services. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize many colleagues I have collaborated with over the decades to bring these transformative advancements in computer science to people around the globe.

Throughout my career, my unwavering mission has been to harness the power of AI to facilitate enhanced communication and collaboration among individuals worldwide. By breaking down language barriers we can foster greater understanding, peace, and prosperity for all of humanity. I am enclosing an example to illustrate this vision: on the left is my mission statement auto-translated to the UN’s six official languages; on the right is an auto-generated spectrum emulating my voice speaking these languages. I invite you to click on the spectrum to listen to my auto-translated voice. These technologies empower anyone to converse in hundreds of languages, bridging gaps and facilitating seamless and meaningful collaboration across diverse cultures. It is my aspiration that this will serve as a legacy, preserving and celebrating the rich cultural heritage of people worldwide.

Arabic: لتمك ي التفاعلات السلسة والمعنوية ب ي الأشخاص من مختلف اللغات والخلفيات بدعم الذكاء
الاصطنا ع.

Chinese 通过人工智能使全球的人们交流更容易。

English: To enable seamless and meaningful interactions among people of different languages and backgrounds with the support of AI.

French: Permettre des interactions naturelles et intuitives entre des personnes de différentes langues et origines grâce au soutien de l'intelligence artificielle

Russian: Обеспечение беспрепятственного и смыслового взаимодействия между людьми разных языков и культур с поддержкой искусственного интеллекта.

Spanish: Facilitar interacciones fluidas y significativas entre personas de diferentes idiomas y orígenes con el apoyo de la inteligencia artificial.

I eagerly anticipate the opportunity to actively contribute to the Academy's mission and collaborate with fellow members to build a better world together. I express my sincere gratitude for this esteemed honor.

Yours sincerely,

[signed]

Xuedong D. Huang

Transcription:

Dear Chairman Andrews and President Oxtoby:

Thank you for your invitation to become a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. I happily accept and am humbled and honored to be included in this prestigious 243-year-old organization of historical figures, scholars and many colleagues with whom I have worked and admired throughout my professional career.

As an educational psychologist and a teacher at every level of the educational continuum, my varied research interests have always been focused and conducted on issues that will have an impact on society-at-large and local communities in particular. Thus, whether it was a study or analysis of student suspensions and expulsions, alternative and urban schools, the declining numbers of teachers, African American male youth, higher education trends and challenges, Catholic universities and Historically Black colleges and universities, I have attempted to remain true to my promise by providing constructive solutions to those issues through my scholarship and academic and administrative roles at four universities. While it is pleasing to be recognized by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for those contributions, I look forward to collaborating with other fellows in the Educational and Academic Leadership Section on topics of even greater importance.

Thank you again for selecting me as a member of this distinguished learning society.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Antoine M. Garibaldi

Transcription:

Dear President Oxtoby,

Years ago, I gave a commencement speech in which I detailed the origin of the term “liberal arts.” The ancient Greeks, I explained, believed that the only way for a young person to grow up to be a truly free member of society, much less a fully realized human being, was to develop his or her mind through the study of a broad cross-section of higher-level thoughts, ideas, and principles. That’s why those Greek scholars chose the word “liberal” to define their new educational philosophy – because it shared the same root as their word for liberty.

Their word, in other words, for [italicized] freedom [end italicized].

I tell you this because I’ve just spent the past hour or so researching this amazing brother/sisterhood to which I found myself invited. And in doing so, I quickly came to the realization that it is, just maybe, the human equivalent of that one-time pillar of ancient Greek society. Your Academy of Arts and Sciences represents a veritable cross section of modern thought, theory, and human accomplishment.

More importantly, it offers the proverbial ten thousand points of light (and more than a glimmer of hope) to what can (let’s be honest) often be an unenlightened, dispassionate, and, at times, even cruel world. For that reason and others, I am deeply, deeply humbled to think you’d even consider me to be numbered among your ranks.

I accept this prestigious honor. And, of course, I look forward to doing whatever I can to make the experience as life-affirming for others as I will, no doubt, find it myself.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and God bless.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Sheila C. Johnson

Transcription:

Dear Dr. Andrews and Dr. Oxtoby,

I am deeply honored to accept your invitation to become an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

As an African technology entrepreneur, I humbly accept this honor in recognition it is not for my work alone, but also that of my family and colleagues who together share the Vision that every African across the continent must enjoy access to 21st century technologies, skills, and opportunities.

It was my singular privilege this weekend to inform the young African entrepreneurs who I have been mentoring for almost a decade on a social media platform, that I had been elected to this esteemed Academy, joining so many women and men in history whom I have studied and held in highest regard, both those with roots in the African continent and from across the world.

I want to take this opportunity to express deep gratitude to my teachers, beginning with those who first taught me as a primary school student in Zambia where we had fled with my family from Zimbabwe (then Southern Rhodesia) when I was a young child. I reflect on the role of educators in the decades since then, and the Faith-filled journey leading me to this deeply appreciated commendation which I must admit took me completely by surprise.

I write today on the first of May, a month of seasonal transition, whether in the Northern Hemisphere or the South. It is a time when great tragedies are inflicting devastating loss and pain across so many communities and nations, and the world aches for transitions away from bloodshed, poverty, climate crisis, and hunger. It is also a time of great innovations, creations, and discoveries with the power to uplift humanity in myriad ways.

I pray that together with my fellow colleagues in the Academy, we will each and all, in our different fields, never cease to imagine and do our own part to enact a kinder, greener, and more equitably prosperous world for future generations.

Once again, my humble thanks to Dr. Andrews, Dr. Oxtoby, Academy officials, and those who nominated me. I look forward to meeting you and other Fellows in September.

Sincerely,

[signed]

Strive Masiyiwa

Transcription:

As a teenager inspired by the 1969 first moon landing, I came alone from Hong Kong to America for science.

How wonderful was the cutting-edge undergraduate education that I received in Caltech! How my first taste of research in Caltech under Professor Pol Duwez, Father of Amorphous Metals, kept me excited for the next 50 years!

How nourishing were my graduate education and research in MIT under Professor Millie Dresselhaus, Queen of Carbon Science and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom!

My election into the American Academy of Arts and Science fills my heart with gratitude. Thanks to America – the best place for science.

Thanks to my parents for their love and provision. How proud I am for my mother, Rebecca Chan Chung 鍾陳可慰, who served as a Nurse in the Flying Tigers in World War II and received the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal! How proud I am for my father, Leslie Wah-Leung 鍾華亮, who was wounded in action as a Gunner in the World War II British Hong Kong force!

Most of all, thanks to God, who gives me wisdom and directs my research and life. To God be the glory!

Deborah Duen Ling Chung 鍾端玲

[signed]

Buffalo, NY, June 1, 2023 

[captions for photographs, clockwise from top left:]

Caltech student ID 1971

Mother on Hump flight (Flying Tigers), WWII, 1943

Father, wounded in action, Hong Kong, WWII, 1941

With M. Dresselhaus (MIT), Queen of Carbon Science, 2016

Holding thermal paste, U. Buffalo, 2003