The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has announced Deborah M. Pearsall, professor emerita in the University of Missouri College of Arts and Science, as one of the organization’s newest members. Founded in 1780, the academy recognizes accomplished individuals and engages them to promote the common good.

Pearsall, elected to the academy in the Social and Behavioral Sciences category under Anthropology and Archaeology, is known for creating a widely used online database of phytoliths — microscopic mineral deposits within plants — and researching how ancient cultures used plants.