Caltech’s Thomas Hou and Jonas Peters Elected to National Academy of Sciences

Two Caltech professors, Thomas Y. Hou and Jonas C. Peters, have been elected amongst the newest members of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) this year. Membership in the academy is considered one of the highest honors a scientist can receive.

Thomas Hou is the Charles Lee Powell Professor of Applied and Computational Mathematics. Hou’s work focuses on multiscale problems arising from geophysical applications and fluid dynamics. He has made significant progress on the 3D Euler singularity problem, which is closely related to the Navier-Stokes Equation Millennium Problem, which questions whether the equation, regularly used to define the motion of fluids, always remains valid. Hou is also interested in problems that deal with multivariable datasets as well as data analysis in settings where the model and data underlying the analysis continually update.

Jonas Peters is the Bren Professor of Chemistry and director of the Resnick Sustainability Institute (RSI). His research is focused on chemical transformations relevant to feeding and fueling the planet. Specifically, his group works on the development of catalysts and photocatalysts with applications in renewable solar fuel technologies, distributed nitrogen fixation for fertilizers and fuels, and new bond constructions for organic chemists developing pharmaceuticals. At the core of his lab’s work is the development of fundamentally new concepts for such catalysis and elucidation of their underlying reaction mechanisms, along with the characterization of associated intermediates exhibiting unusual electronic structures and bonding. As director of the RSI, Peters leverages Caltech’s unique strengths to innovate solutions for a more sustainable planet.

Hou earned his bachelor’s degree from the South China University of Technology in 1982 and a doctorate in mathematics from UCLA in 1987. He joined Caltech as an associate professor of applied mathematics in 1993, became a professor in 1998, and the Charles Lee Powell Professor of Applied and Computational Mathematics in 2004. He served as the executive officer for applied and computational mathematics from 2000 until 2006.

Peters received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago in 1993 and a doctorate from MIT in 1998. He joined the Caltech faculty as an assistant professor of chemistry in 1999, became an associate professor in 2004, a professor in 2006, and the Bren Professor of Chemistry in 2010. He served as the executive officer for chemistry from 2013 until 2015 and was named RSI director in 2015.

The academy announced the election of Hou and Peters along with 118 other new members and 24 international members on April 30. Six Caltech alumni were among the new members. They are David N. Beratan (PhD ’86), the R.J. Reynolds Professor of Chemistry, professor of biochemistry, and professor of physics at Duke University; Geoffrey Blewitt (PhD ’86), professor of geosciences and professor of physics at the University of Nevada, Reno’s Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology; James M. Mayer (PhD ’83), the Charlotte Fitch Roberts Professor of Chemistry at Yale University; Richard Mooney (PhD ’91), the George Barth Geller Distinguished Professor for Research in Neurobiology and professor at Duke University; Kenneth S. Suslick (BS ’74), the Marvin T. Schmidt Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and Peter T. Wolczanski (PhD ’81), the George W. and Grace L. Todd Professor of Chemistry at Cornell University. Richard Ellis, a visiting associate in astronomy at Caltech from University College London, was also elected as an international member.

According to the academy, the new additions bring the total number of active members to 2,617 and the total number of international members to 537.