Robert D. Putnam, a professor at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), joined a star-studded list of academics on Monday with his induction into the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

Putnam, the Malkin Professor of Public Policy was honored for his extensive research in the field of civic engagement.

"Bob Putnam's scholarship on the conditions for the creation of social capital represents the best of social scientific rigor, creative insight and enormous impact on public debates about citizenship and civic engagement," Frederick Shauer, Academic Dean of the KSG, wrote in an e-mail message.

Putnam is a former KSG dean and sits on the Advisory Council on Environmentally Sustainable Development at the World Bank.

He is the author, most recently, of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, a scrutiny of American civil engagement.

Induction into the NAS, an honorary private organization of scientists and engineers is one of the highest academic honors in the country.

Putnam, the president-elect of the American Political Science Foundation for 2001-2002, will join the NAS' ranks of a number of Nobel Prize winners, including Albert Einstein and James Watson.

"I am pleased by my selection to such a prestigious organization," Putnam said in a press release yesterday.