The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has elected Jenny Tung, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) in Leipzig, Germany, as a member. Members are elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Membership is a widely recognized mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive. The results of the election were announced on April 30, 2024.
Jenny Tung elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences
Jenny Tung is the Director of the Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution at MPI-EVA and a Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and Biology at Duke University. She joined Duke University in 2012 after completing her post-doctoral training in the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Chicago and her Ph.D. training in the Department of Biology at Duke. Tung founded the Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution at MPI-EVA in 2022.
Research in Tung's Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution focuses on the intersection between behavior, social structure, and genes. Her lab is particularly interested in how the social environment influences gene regulation, population genetic structure, and health and survival across the life course. "We primarily pursue these questions in nonhuman primates and other social mammals, both wild and captive," says Tung who co-directs the Amboseli Baboon Research Project, one of the longest running primate field sites in the world.
When asked about how Tung felt after receiving the phone call from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences she says: “I was very surprised but very honored to be included among a set of scientists and scholars I deeply respect. And grateful to both the Max Planck Society and to Duke for the opportunity to do science every day.”
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The U.S. National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit institution established in 1863. It recognizes achievement in science by election to membership, and - with the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the U.S. National Academy of Medicine - provides science, engineering, and health policy advice to the U.S. federal government and other organizations.
Contact:
Sandra Jacob
Press Officer
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig
+49 341 3550-122
jacob@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de