boellstorffNine University of California, Irvine researchers in areas ranging from anthropology and psychology to computer science and biology have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society. 

A total of 391 AAAS members are being honored this year for their efforts to further science or its applications. New fellows will receive an official certificate and a gold-and-blue rosette pin on Feb. 18, 2017, at the organization’s annual meeting in Boston.

“The AAAS plays an important role with the advancement of scientific research, education and outreach in the U.S.,” said Pramod Khargonekar, UCI vice chancellor for research. “These brilliant scientists – who represent a broad spectrum of academic pursuits – personify UCI’s research innovation and excellence, and we are proud of their achievements.”

maurer

The new fellows will be formally announced Nov. 25 in the AAAS News & Notes section of the journal Science

New fellows named from the School of Social Sciences are:

  • Tom Boellstorff, professor of anthropology, for significant contributions in research via cross-cultural studies of gender/sexuality and the mediation of identities through digital media, along with service to the profession of anthropology
  • William Maurer, dean of the School of Social Sciences, for noteworthy advances in the fields of law and economic anthropology, specifically in banking and the meaning of money in different cultures

Boellstorff and Maurer are two of only eight anthropologists elected to the prestigious society this year.

Other UCI honorees are:

  • Jonathan Feng, professor of physics & astronomy, for leadership in theoretical physics and cosmology, particularly in elucidating the nature of dark matter, and for communicating the excitement of particle physics to a broad audience
  • David Fruman, professor of molecular biology & biochemistry, for distinguished contributions in biology, especially for studies of signaling transduction from phosphoinositide 3-kinase and its role in normal cell development and disease
  • Ramesh Jain, Donald Bren Professor of Computer Science,for notable additions to the fields of computer vision, multimedia information management and experiential computing, resulting in transforming the multimedia community with several successes in innovation and entrepreneurship
  • Elizabeth Loftus, Distinguished Professor of psychology & social behavior and criminology, law & society, for significant contributions to social psychology, particularly human memory and its application to legal proceedings, and for dedicated service to AAAS on its board of directors
  • Hal Stern, Ted & Janice Smith Family Foundation Dean of the Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences, for high-impact contributions to statistical methodology and important applications, for the development and application of Bayesian methods, and for national service and university administration
  • Sheryl Tsai, professor of molecular biology & biochemistry, for distinguished work in chemistry and biology, particularly regarding the structure and function of metabolic enzymes
  • Gene Tsudik, Chancellor’s Professor of computer science, for contributions to internet security and privacy

With this year’s class, UCI has 150 AAAS fellows.

-Tom Vasich, UCI 

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