ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan’s Robert Groves, James S. Jackson and Roderick Little have been named to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a prestigious society that recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions in scholarly and professional fields.

They are among the 229 new fellows and 18 foreign honorary members, which include scholars, scientists, writers, artists, and civic, corporate and philanthropic leaders.

? Groves, a professor of sociology and internationally recognized expert in scientific survey sampling, left his job last year as director of U-M’s Survey Research Center at the Institute for Social Research (ISR) to become director of the U.S. Census Bureau.

The author and editor of several classic books on survey methods, Groves served as an associate director at the Census Bureau in 1990-92. He received the Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Association for Public Opinion Research in 2001.

? Jackson, the Daniel Katz Distinguished University Professor of Psychology and professor of health behavior and health education, was named director of ISR in 2005. A prolific and respected scholar, he has published numerous books, chapters and scientific articles on international, comparative studies of immigration, race and ethnic relations, physical and mental health, adult development and aging, attitudes and attitude change, and African American politics.

Jackson was elected a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies of Science in 2002 and is immediate past-chair of the Section on Social, Economic, and Political Sciences of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

? Little, a biostatistics professor at the School of Public Health and the Richard Remington Collegiate Professor and research professor at ISR, focuses his primary research interest on incomplete data, sample surveys, Bayesian statistics and applied statistics, specifically analysis of data sets with missing values.

He has chaired numerous doctoral committees and served on many other committees, such as Committee on Fellows for the American Statistical Association and as chair-elect of the Survey Research Methods Section for the American Statistical Association. Recent honors include the Wilks’ Memorial Award from the American Statistical Association and recognition as a national associate by National Academy of the Sciences.

The new class will be inducted at a ceremony Oct. 9 at the academy’s headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.