Eight UW-Madison faculty honored as AAAS fellows

Eight members of the University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), it was announced today (Jan. 11).

Selection as a AAAS fellow is a high honor conferred by peers in recognition of distinguished efforts to advance science and its applications. AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society. The tradition of naming AAAS fellows in honor of their achievements dates to 1874.

New fellows will be recognized at the Fellows Forum, held during the annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 19.

Included in the 2011 class of AAAS fellows are:

• Nicholas L. Abbott, professor of chemical and biological engineering, recognized for the transformative engineering and analysis of biotic-abiotic interfaces, including the imaginative use of liquid crystalline materials to report on the interactions of biomolecules.
• Helen E. Blackwell, associate professor of chemistry, for the development of a new chemical language to elucidate the mechanisms of bacterial communication, which has had a major impact on the understanding of bacterial growth and virulence.
• Michael M. Cox, professor of biochemistry, for distinguished contributions in molecular biology and enzymology of genetic recombination and DNA repair, and in the improvement of science education.
• Mark Ediger, professor of chemistry, for distinguished contributions in the fields of physical and materials chemistry, particularly in understanding heterogeneous dynamics and ultrastable packing of amorphous materials.
• Jiming Jiang, professor of horticulture, for distinguished contributions to our understanding of crop plant genomes, especially centromeres, through the development, application and integration of advanced cytogenetic and genomic technologies.
• Jorge C. Escalante-Semerena, professor of bacteriology, for distinguished contributions to the understanding of coenzyme vitamin B12 biosynthesis, sirtuins, and bacterial metabolism of propionate, tricarballylate and ethanolamine and graduate training in microbiology.
• Lloyd Smith, professor of chemistry, for seminal contributions to the sequencing, analysis and use of DNA.
• Shannon Stahl, professor of chemistry, for the development and fundamental characterization of metal-catalyzed methods for selective aerobic oxidation of organic molecules critical for environmentally benign chemical synthesis.