Huda Akil, co-director of the Molecular & Behavioral Neuroscience Institute and Gardner C. Quarton Distinguished Professor of Neurosciences in the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical School, and survey methodologist Robert Groves, director of the U.S. Census Bureau and a U-M professor, have been elected members of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors attainable by an American scientist.

Akil’s research is aimed at understanding mechanisms of our emotions, including the brain biology of pain, stress, substance abuse and depression. Her current work investigates the genetic, molecular and neural mechanisms underlying stress, addiction and mood disorders. Along with Dr. Stanley Watson, she co-directs the U-M node of the Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Research Consortium. This consortium is engaged in large-scale studies to discover new genes and proteins that cause vulnerability to major depression, bipolar illness and schizophrenia.

For Akil, election to the academy is a chance to more widely share her research.

“Neuroscience research is intrinsically multidisciplinary and collaborative,” Akil says. “The challenges of understanding the brain are immense, but the journey is thrilling and the best is yet to come.”

Akil received a doctorate in psychobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and pursued her postdoctoral training at Stanford University. She also holds a master’s degree in psycholinguistics from the American University of Beirut. Akil joined the U-M faculty in 1978.

Groves was honored in recognition of distinguished and continuing achievement in original research.

An internationally recognized expert in scientific surveys, Groves is a research professor at the Institute for Social Research, a professor of sociology at LSA and a research professor at the Joint Program in Survey Methodology at the University of Maryland (a joint teaching program of U-M, Maryland and Westat Inc.).

Groves has authored or co-authored seven books and scores of scientific articles.

He received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Dartmouth College in 1970, Master of Arts degrees in statistics and sociology from U-M in 1973 and a doctorate in sociology from U-M in 1975. He joined the U-M faculty in 1975.

Groves also has served as project director of the National Survey of Family Growth, a survey of more than 18,000 men and women between the ages of 15 and 49 that is the principal source for national estimates of factors affecting pregnancy and birth rates. Groves currently is on leave from U-M, working as director of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Groves and Akil will be inducted into the academy next April during its 149th annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

Elected along with 70 others, Groves and Akil bring the number of U-M faculty elected to the National Academy of Sciences to 25.