Mahzarin Banaji (Photo: Robert Taylor)

SFI External Professor Mahzarin Banaji has been elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society (APS).

The APS was founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743 "for the purpose of promoting useful knowledge.” Today it continues its mission through research, fellowships, and public outreach.

One of only five new members elected from the social sciences, Banaji is the Richard Clarke Cabot Professor of Social Ethics at Harvard University, where she conducts experimental research into human thinking and feeling as it unfolds in social contexts. She is widely known for her work on hidden or "implicit" biases, which was the subject of her 2013 book Blindspot with Anthony Greenwald.

In becoming an APS member, Banaji joins the ranks of Joyce Carol Oates, Albert Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, and approximately 1,000 other distinguished members, honored for their "extraordinary accomplishments in all fields."

Other APS members of the SFI community are External Professor and Science Steering Committee member Barabara Grosz of Harvard, Science Board member Richard Lenski of Michigan State University, Science Board member Simon Levin of Princeton, Trustee Cormac McCarthy, and External Professor Emeritus and Past President Jerry Sabloff.

See the list of new APS members for 2020.