Last year, Dong was one of 15 researchers named to the inaugural class of HHMI-GBMF investigators, jointly supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for five years to pursue innovative work on plant science.
She was elected to NAS with 83 others this year and will become one of 2,152 active members. Established in 1863, the National Academy of Sciences has served to "investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art" whenever called upon to do so by any department of the government.
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit honorific society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furthering science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Among the NAS's renowned members have been Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Thomas Edison, Orville Wright, and Alexander Graham Bell. Nearly 200 living Academy members have won Nobel Prizes.
Related Link:
http://today.duke.edu/2012/05/dongnas