The National Academy of Science announced the election of 72 new members to the group Tuesday, including 19 women, the largest number of females ever elected to the NAS.

According to NAS spokesperson Maureen O’Leary, election to the NAS is a great honor.

“It is the best thing a scientist or engineer can get after the Nobel Prize,” O’Leary said. “It’s a highly regarded membership.”

The 85-percent-government-funded NAS was established in 1863 under U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to advise the government on science policy. At the time, the group primarily focused on defense measures. Since that time, however, the group has grown to include not only the National Academy of Science, but also the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council.

The NAS elections went well for women with the election of 19 women to the NAS. Among those elected were University of Colorado associate professor Deborah Jin, who, at age 36, tied for the youngest woman ever to be elected to the NAS, and University of Wisconsin anthropology professor Karen Strier.

UW department of anthropology chair Kenneth George said Strier’s election was a great honor since it recognized her very important work with wooly spider monkeys. Through her work, researchers have been able to better examine evolution through new world primates like wooly spider monkeys, versus old world primates like chimpanzees and gorillas. Additionally, her observations have helped with conservation ecologies.

“Up until this year, there were only 74 anthropologists out of the whole academy and only three at the [NAS],” George said. “It’s a real distinction for Karen to be honored.”

The election arrives at a time when the position of women in science is being questioned after Harvard President Lawrence Summers made comments to the National Bureau of Economics Research in mid-January that were interpreted by some to claim women’s weak representation in the math and sciences could be attributed to innate differences from males.

However, few believe NAS’ election of 19 new women was in response to Summers’ remarks.

UW women’s studies and plant studies professor Caitilyn Allen said she was not sure there was a connection between Summers’ comments and the NAS election, since the election is private and not well publicized.

“I think it would be a mistake to read too much into it,” Allen said. “I know that in order to be elected there needs to be a significant body of scholarly work.”

O’Leary also believed the success of women in the NAS elections was dependent on the work of women in science and not Summers’ remarks.

“They have done some tremendous work and that’s what we’re recognizing,” O’Leary said. “It’s not because they’re women.”