Two Pittsburgh academicians were among 72 elected yesterday to the National Academy of Sciences -- the most prestigious national honor for American scientists.

M. Granger Morgan, head of Carnegie Mellon University's department of engineering and public policy, and Angela M. Gronenborn, chairwoman of University of Pittsburgh's department of structural biology, were elected by academy membership that now numbers 2,025.

The academy also elected 18 foreign associate members who hold no voting rights.

Dr. Morgan, 66, has a 24-page resume that includes 75 journal publications and four books on subjects ranging from energy to risk assessment and uncertainty in science. He has contributed to 29 other books and has published 61 conference and technical reports and numerous book reviews.

"Obviously I'm delighted," Dr. Morgan said, noting he received "lots of lovely" congratulatory e-mail messages and phone calls from people nationwide.

Dr. Morgan's research in environment science and policy includes risk assessment of carrying cell phones on airplanes to the health risks of power lines. He also has addressed uncertainty and disagreement in such fields as climate change to help people make policy.

Everybody in serious science, he said, agrees climate change is under way, but his research attempts to assess the risk of rising ocean and temperature levels and disruption of ocean currents.

Dr. Gronenborn could not be reached for comment, but her expertise lies in describing the structures of peptides, proteins and nucleic acids, with attempts to correlate their structures and functions.

Structural biologists use X-ray crystallography, electron microscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to reveal the three-dimensional structure of proteins and other molecules, which is important in drug discovery. She is considered a leading expert in NMR spectroscopy.

Dr. Gronenborn, who came to Pitt in 2004, had been chief of the structural biology section of the Laboratory of Chemical Physics at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private organization of scientists and engineers dedicated to furthering science and using it to benefit the general welfare.

Abraham Lincoln signed the congressional act of incorporation in 1863 to establish the academy, which acts as official adviser to the federal government in matters of science and technology.