Membership Benefits

NAAS member Academies can nurture young scientists through establishing and supporting a Junior Academy and supporting their top student researchers to attend the American Junior Academy of Science (AJAS) annual meeting, held in conjunction with the AAAS meeting. AJAS (https://www.academiesofscience.org/) is a program of NAAS which recognizes America's premier high school students for outstanding scientific research.

NAAS can facilitate communications among people with comparable jobs in member Academies. Does your academy need information about fund-raising strategies? Or might you want to know about options for online payment of dues and registration fees? Or would it be helpful to chat with webmasters from affiliates as you redesign your website? If you want to reach the Directors, Presidents, Treasurers, Webmasters or other officers of NAAS affiliates, we can provide you with their contact information.

Just being able to participate in the NAAS meetings each year, which are also held in conjunction with the AAAS meeting, is yet another important benefit. Science Academies vary in size, leadership structure, qualifications for membership, format for the annual meeting and other ways. At the NAAS meetings there are opportunities to network with representatives from other affiliates that face challenges and opportunities similar to yours.

Member academies can nominate candidates for board membership, giving them NAAS representation they would not have otherwise.

NAAS also provides a means for member Academy involvement in the governance of AAAS through delegates who are elected by NAAS to represent Academy interests at AAAS Council meetings. The Council (https://www.aaas.org/Council), the member-elected governing body of AAAS, includes two delegates from the National Association of Academies of Science.  The Council’s responsibilities include election of Fellows, adoption of resolutions and statements on matters affecting the Association, election of affiliates, and approving amendments to the Bylaws.

Academy members who register to help chaperon the selected students from their state at the AJAS meeting receive a reduction of over 50% in their registration fee to attend the AAAS conference.

Junior academy attendees can compete for the Dallas Cocke Essay award.  AJAS also alerts member academies of other awards that high school students can compete for such as the United States Metric Association and the Blake Family Foundation $2500 awards.

We are also working to identify a provider for a national database to enhance communication options, and to make it easier to perform functions within your Academy that now may need to be done manually. Each Academy that chooses to participate in the database will have access to the following optional modules within an account of its own: new member registration, event registration, private member directory, elections and newsletter, and many other features. Each Academy will have its own website and database with its own member information, accounting system and bank account.