Jonas C. Peters , Bren Professor of Chemistry and director of the Resnick Sustainability Institute (RSI) at Caltech, has been elected one of 42 new members of the American Philosophical Society (APS) this year. According to its press release, the APS "honors extraordinary accomplishments in all fields spanning STEM and the humanities." Since its inception in 1743, the APS has welcomed 5,986 members including founders of the United States such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine. Peters' research is focused on chemical transformations relevant to feeding and fueling the planet. Specifically, his group works on the development of catalysts and photocatalysts with applications in renewable solar fuel technologies, distributed nitrogen fixation for fertilizers and fuels, and chemical transformations fundamental to the synthesis of organic molecules.…