India, May 18 -- The National Academy of Sciences has elected five University of California San Diego professors to membership in the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors bestowed on U.S. scientists and engineers.

Fan Chung of the Jacobs School of Engineering, Stephen Hedrick and Susan Kaech of the School of Biological Sciences, and Lisa Levin and Lynne Talley of Scripps Institution of Oceanography were among the 120 new members and 24 foreign associates elected to the academy "in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research."

They join more than 100 living and deceased members of the UC San Diego faculty who previously had been named to membership in the academy, whi...