Social Scientist Nicholas Carnes Named Co-Winner of NSF’s Waterman Award

On May 11, the National Science Foundation (NSF) named two co-winners of the 2021 Alan T. Waterman Award, the agency’s highest honor for early-career scientists. One of the co-winners, Dr. Nicholas Carnes, is a social scientist from Duke University who was recognized for research on the social determinants affecting people’s pursuit of public or community service. The Waterman Award was presented to the winners at the National Science Board (NSB) meeting on May 18-19.

“Getting involved in public service is a really time-consuming and really complicated process. The challenge for scientists is understanding all the links in the chain,” Carnes stated in recorded remarks during the NSB meeting. The award also comes with a grant of $1 million for the awardee’s research over the next five years. More information about the Waterman Award is available on the NSF website.