"UCR congratulates the eight faculty members who've been awarded the AAAS fellow distinction," said Charles Louis, vice chancellor for research. "Their election reflects the high quality of their work and shows that research being done on our campus is receiving national attention."
Election as a fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers. This year, AAS bestowed the honor on a total of 376 members for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. New fellows will be honored during the Feb. 18, 2006 AAAS annual meeting in St. Louis, Mo.
The UCR honorees are:
- · Michael F. Allen, chair and professor of plant pathology and director of the Center for Conservation Biology, was honored for distinguished research in mycorrhizal biology, contributing to understanding the effects of mycorrhizal fungi on ecosystem dynamics and for exemplary service to the academic community.
· Julia N. Bailey-Serres, professor of genetics, was chosen for fundamental contributions to understanding the program of transcriptional control in plants that is activated under hypoxia, heat, cold and osmotic stress.
· Daniel R. Gallie, professor of biochemistry, was honored for seminal contributions to understanding the post-transcriptional regulation of protein synthesis and molecular response mechanisms of plants to environmental stress.
· Timothy D. Paine, professor of entomology, was honored for significant contributions to ornamental/urban landscape entomology, forest entomology and pest management administration.
· Thomas C. Patterson, distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology, for distinguished contributions to anthropology, especially theories of class and state formation, South American archaeology, critical analyses of archaeological theory and history of the discipline.
· Richard C. Sutch, professor of economics and director of the Center for Social and Economics Policy Research, for distinguished contributions to economic history, particularly for studies on the emancipation of slaves in the United States and the history of saving and retirement.
· Chandra M. Varma, distinguished professor of physics, for distinguished contributions to the quantum statistical theory of strongly interacting particles, particularly to theories of superconductivity, magnetism and disordered systems.
· Zhenbiao Yang, professor of plant cell biology, for pioneering research in plant cell biology that contributes to the present understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying cell polarity, cytoskeletal dynamics and cell morphogenesis in plants.
The tradition of AAAS fellows began in 1874. The American Association for the Advancement of Science is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science. Founded in 1848, AAAs includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. 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.