Washington, D.C. (Nov. 29, 2012)—Fifteen faculty members at the University of South Florida in Tampa, have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as an AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.
This year AAAS members from 245 organizations, including universities and institutions worldwide, have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.
With 15 Fellows, the University of South Florida was one of the top ten organizations in the world with the most AAAS Fellows named this year. Others in the top ten include the University of Michigan (19 Fellows), The Ohio State University (18), University of California-Davis (17), Vanderbilt University (17), University of Southern California (15), Duke University (14), University of California-Irvine (13), Indiana University (12), and University of California-San Diego (11).
"The University of South Florida is proud of our accomplished faculty members," said Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, AAAS Fellow and vice president for research and innovation at USF. "The breadth and depth of faculty scholarship and service recognized by this honor is a key reason for USF's growth as a top global research university."
New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Saturday, 16 February from 8 to 10 a.m. at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2013 AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston, Mass.
This year's AAAS Fellows will be formally announced in the AAAS News & Notes section of the journal Science on 30 November 2012.
AAAS Fellows from the University of South Florida
As part of the Section on Anthropology:
- Dr. Lorena Madrigal was elected as an AAAS Fellow for distinguished contributions to the study of evolutionary change in recent human populations and for distinguished service to the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.
As part of the Section on Biological Sciences:
- Dr. Susan Bell was elected as an AAAS Fellow for distinguished contributions to the understanding of estuarine, salt marsh, and near-coastal habitats of the East Coast, and for her vision as an academic leader.
- Dr. Robert J. Deschenes was elected as an AAAS Fellow for distinguished contributions to the field of molecular cell biology and the use of model genetic systems to elucidate the spatial arrangement of signaling proteins.
- Dr. James R. Garey was elected as an AAAS Fellow for distinguished contributions toward the development of the new animal phylogeny that is now prominently found in all biology textbooks.
- Dr. Earl D. McCoy was elected as an AAAS Fellow for distinguished contributions to ecology and conservation biology and as an unselfish leader as the associate chair of the department of Integrative Biology for more than 20 years.
- Dr. Richard S. Pollenz was elected as an AAAS Fellow for distinguished contributions to the field of molecular toxicology, particularly for advances in understanding aryl hydrocarbon receptor signal transduction at the protein level.
- Dr. Peter Stiling was elected as an AAAS Fellow for distinguished contributions to the fields of global climate change, coastal biology, and biology teaching.
As part of the Section on Education:
- Dr. Karen D. Liller was elected as an AAAS Fellow for distinguished contributions as a graduate education administrator and also as a research scholar in the fields of public health and children's injury prevention.
As part of the Section on Information, Computing & Communication:
- Dr. Lawrence O. Hall was elected as an AAAS Fellow for outstanding contributions to scalable pattern recognition.
- Dr. Nagarajan Ranganathan was elected as an AAAS Fellow for distinguished contributions to the field of computer science and engineering, particularly for the development of algorithms and architectures for VLSI systems and applications.
As part of the Section on Neuroscience:
- Dr. Cesar V. Borlongan was elected as an AAAS Fellow for distinguished contributions to the field of stem cell therapy for neurological disorders, particularly for advancing translational biomedical research of cell based-therapeutics in stroke.
As part of the Section on Pharmaceutical Sciences:
- Dr. Paula C. Bickford was elected as an AAAS Fellow for distinguished contributions to the field of aging research, and particularly as a leader in the field of nutritional neuroscience and for outstanding service.
- Dr. Lynn Wecker was elected as an AAAS Fellow for distinguished service to the scientific community as an innovative, highly accomplished researcher, award-winning teacher, and dedicated servant and leader of her academic disciplines.
As part of the Section on Physics:
- Dr. George S. Nolas was elected as an AAAS Fellow for contributions to materials and solid-state physics, particularly for the development of thermoelectric materials, and in investigating the fundamental physics of clathrate and clathrate-like materials.
As part of the Section on Social, Economic and Political Sciences:
- Dr. John Skvoretz was elected as an AAAS Fellow for exemplary contributions to the field of mathematical sociology, particularly for models in the research areas of small group processes and social networks.
The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Currently, members can be considered for the rank of Fellow if nominated by the steering groups of the Association's 24 sections, or by any three Fellows who are current AAAS members (so long as two of the three sponsors are not affiliated with the nominee's institution), or by the AAAS chief executive officer.
Each steering group then reviews the nominations of individuals within its respective section and a final list is forwarded to the AAAS Council, which votes on the aggregate list.
The Council is the policymaking body of the Association, chaired by the AAAS president, and consisting of the members of the board of directors, the retiring section chairs, delegates from each electorate and each regional division, and two delegates from the National Association of Academies of Science.
The University of South Florida is a high-impact, global research university dedicated to student success. USF ranks 50th in the nation for federal expenditures in research and total expenditures in research among all U.S. universities, public or private, according to the National Science Foundation. Serving more than 47,000 students, the USF System has an annual budget of $1.5 billion and an annual economic impact of $3.7 billion. USF is a member of the Big East Athletic Conference. www.usf.edu
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.
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