Fourteen U-M faculty members are among 539 newly elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Election as a fellow, a tradition that began in 1874, is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers. AAAS fellows are recognized for “scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.”
The awards were announced last week by AAAS. New fellows will be recognized for their contributions to science and technology at the Fellows Forum to be held Feb. 18 during the organization’s annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The new fellows will receive a certificate and a blue-and-gold rosette as a symbol of their distinguished accomplishments. Founded in 1848, the AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. U-M is third in the number of fellows this year; Ohio State University has 20 and Vanderbilt University has 14.
U-M’s 14 new AAAS fellows come from the fields of biological and medical science; chemistry; dentistry; information, computing and communication; and psychology.
They are:
• Ruma Banerjee, Vincent Massey Collegiate Professor of Biological Chemistry, professor of biological chemistry, and associate chair of the Department of Biological Chemistry, Medical School. Recognized for fundamental studies of catalysis by vitamin B12-dependent enzymes and of trafficking and assimilation of vitamin B12 in humans.
• Kent Charles Berridge, James Olds Collegiate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and professor of psychology, LSA. Recognized for significant contributions to the fields of psychology and neurobiology; for outstanding research on the neural mechanisms of emotion, motivation, learning and reward.
• Sally Camper, James V. Neel Collegiate Professor of Human Genetics, chair of the Department of Human Genetics, professor of human genetics and internal medicine, Medical School. Recognized for distinguished contributions to research into the molecular mechanisms of pituitary action and outstanding contributions to academic administration and education of biomedical scientists.
• Heather Carlson, professor of medicinal chemistry, College of Pharmacy; and professor of chemistry, LSA. Recognized for distinguished contributions to computational chemistry, particularly incorporating protein flexibility into structure-based drug design and the development and mining of protein-ligand databases.
• Christin Carter-Su, professor of molecular and integrative physiology, academic program director of the Michigan Diabetes Research Center, Medical School. Recognized for distinguished scientific and administrative contributions to the field of endocrinology, particularly for delineating the cellular actions of growth hormone.
• Jun-Lin Guan, professor of internal medicine and cell and developmental biology, Medical School. Recognized for distinguished contributions to the field of cancer biology and for services to professional societies to promote the careers of young scientists.
• Myron Gutmann, who currently is on leave and working for the U.S. National Science Foundation, is a research professor at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research; a research professor in population studies at the Institute for Social Research; a professor of history in LSA; and a professor of information at the School of information. Gutmann was recognized by AAAS for exceptional administrative leadership at the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research and the National Science Foundation, and for distinguished research contributions to historical demography, population-environment studies and data archiving policies.
• Michael Imperiale, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical School. Recognized for distinguished contributions to the field of virology, and to the discourse on responsible conduct of life science research.
• Paul Krebsbach, Roy H. Roberts Professor of Dentistry and professor of dentistry, School of Denstistry; and professor of biomedical engineering, College of Engineering (CoE). Recognized for distinguished contributions to the cell and molecular biology of mineralized tissues with particular application to the restoration of congenital abnormalities and damaged tissues.
• John Laird, John L. Tishman Professor of Engineering and professor of electrical engineering and computer science, CoE. Recognized for distinguished contributions to artificial intelligence and cognitive science, particularly through the sustained development and application of the Soar cognitive architecture.
• Malcolm Low, professor of molecular and integrative physiology and internal medicine, Medical School. Recognized for distinguished contributions to the field of hypothalamic-pituitary disorders, including pituitary adenomas and obesity, particularly using genetically modified mouse models.
• Martha Pollack, professor of information, School of Information; professor of electrical engineering and computer science, CoE; vice provost for academic and budgetary affairs, Office of the Provost. Recognized for distinguished contributions to artificial intelligence, specifically in computational models of rationality, discourse theory, temporal reasoning, and intelligent assistive technology, as well as for distinguished service to the field.
• Nils Walter, professor of chemistry, LSA. Recognized for distinguished contributions to the field of biophysical chemistry, particularly by applying experimental and computational biophysical approaches to elucidate the function of non-protein coding RNAs.
• Lois Weisman, Sarah Winans Newman Collegiate Professor in the Life Sciences, research professor, Life Sciences Institute; professor of cell and developmental biology, Medical School. Recognized for distinguished contributions to cell biology, particularly for advancing knowledge of how molecular motors attach to cargoes, and the roles and regulation of phosphoinositide lipids.
