A UC Davis animal scientist was named this week to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), one of the highest honors for scientists in the United States. R. Lee Baldwin, a professor of animal science who holds the endowed Sesnon Chair, was among 60 new U.S. members and 15 foreign associates elected this year. Election to the academy is based on the originality and quality of a scientist's entire body of work, rather than a single achievement. With Baldwin's election, UC Davis NAS members now number 15. Baldwin is considered a leader in research on the digestion, metabolism and nutritional requirements of animals, especially those valued for their meat and milk. His research has focused on dynamic mathematical models of animal metabolism, which eventually may provide a better way of meeting the different and changing nutritional needs of individual animals and even humans.