India, May 16 -- Three University of Chicago scholars have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, joining other scientists and researchers chosen in "recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research."

Profs. Rina Foygel Barber, Margaret Gardel and Peter Littlewood are among the 120 new members elected this year. They are honored for their groundbreaking work in a variety of fields, from biological physics to statistics.

Rina Foygel Barber is the Louis Block Professor in the Department of Statistics and the College.

Her research focuses on developing and analyzing estimation, inference and optimization tools for structured high-dimensional data problems.

She develops methods for false disco...