Member News — January 2026

NCSE is pleased to congratulate Fred Edwords on receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2025 from the American Humanist Association. Edwords served for 15 years as AHA’s executive director and 12 years as editor of its magazine The Humanist. Back in the heyday of creationism/evolution debates, Edwords was on the front lines, debating such creationist luminaries as Duane Gish and Henry M. Morris of the Institute for Creation Research. As a result of his debate experiences, he cofounded and edited the journal Creation/Evolution from 1980 to 1991, originally published by the AHA but acquired by NCSE in 1991. He also served on NCSE’s board of directors from 1982 to 1992 and received NCSE’s Friend of Darwin award in 2005.

Richard Lenski, a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University and a recipient of NCSE’s Friend of Darwin award, received the Microbiology Society’s Prize Medal for 2025 at the society’s annual conference, held March 31–April 3, 2025, in Liverpool in the United Kingdom. The Prize Medal is awarded to an outstanding microbiologist who is a global leader in their field and whose work has had a far-reaching impact beyond the discipline of microbiology. Lenski commented, “I’m deeply honoured to receive the Prize Medal from the Microbiology Society. Like most awards in science, it reflects the work of many talented people — the students, postdocs, and colleagues who’ve worked with me to ask and answer questions, and my mentors who helped me learn how to do science and mentor others. I’d also like to thank my family for tolerating my scientific obsessions for all these years.”

Robert T. Pennock, a University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, one of the expert witnesses for the plaintiffs in Kitzmiller v. Dover, and a recipient of NCSE’s Friend of Darwin award, was named a Fellow of Sigma Xi, the scientific research honor society, for 2024. “The Fellow of Sigma Xi distinction is awarded on a competitive basis to members who have been recognized by their peers,” the society explains, “with distinguished service to Sigma Xi and outstanding contributions to the scientific enterprise.” Pennock, along with the rest of the cohort of Sigma Xi Fellows for 2024, was recognized during the 2024 International Forum on Research Excellence, which took place November 14–17, 2024, in Washington, D.C.