Six Faculty-Researchers Elected 2018 AAAS Fellows

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has named six faculty-researchers from Texas A&M University among its fellows for 2018, the Division of Research announced today.

They are among 416 new AAAS fellows selected “in recognition of their extraordinary achievements in advancing science,” AAAS said in a Nov. 27 news release. Formed in 1848, AAAS is the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific society, with members in more than 91 nations.

“The diverse accomplishments of these six researchers represent the enormous range of the Texas A&M research enterprise,” Vice President for Research Mark A. Barteau said. “As a university, we thank the AAAS for recognizing their tremendous contributions, which have advanced the role of science in the world while demonstrating Texas A&M’s mission to solve society’s most challenging problems.”

The 2018 AAAS fellows from Texas A&M are:

• Robert S. Chapkin, Regents Professor and University Distinguished Professor, holder of the Allen Endowed Chair in Nutrition and Chronic Disease Prevention, University Faculty Fellow, Program in Integrative Nutrition and Complex Diseases, Department of Nutrition and Food Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and AgriLife Senior Faculty Fellow was recognized “for distinguished contributions to the chemoprevention of colon cancer, dietary modulation of immune function and development of non-invasive techniques to identify intestinal diseases.”
• Jeffrey D. Cirillo, Regents Professor and director of the Center for Airborne Pathogen Research and Tuberculosis Imaging, Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, College of Medicine, was honored “for distinguished contributions to the biology of infectious disease, non-invasive imaging to detect infections, and development of a rapid test for tuberculosis screening.”
• Marcetta Y. Darensbourg, University Distinguished Professor and holder of the Davidson Chair in Science, Department of Chemistry, College of Science, was recognized “for insight and application of the fundamental principles of organometallic chemistry to hydrogenase enzyme active sites and synthetic analogues as foundational bioorganometallic molecules.”
• Ethan L. Grossman, professor and holder of the Michel T. Halbouty Chair, Department of Geology and Geophysics, College of Geosciences, was honored “for distinguished contributions to the field of isotope geochemistry and paleoceanography, particularly for leadership in deep-time oxygen isotope stratigraphy and paleothermometry.”
• Lawrence Rauchwerger, Eppright Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, was recognized “for contributions to thread-level speculation, parallelizing compilers and parallel libraries.”
• David M. Stelly, professor, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, with a joint appointment to Texas A&M AgriLife Research, was honored “for instilling the thirst for knowledge of plant breeding, genetics, cytogenetics, and molecular methods to students and colleagues in cotton, sorghum, soybean and potato.”

AAAS will induct the 2018 fellows during its annual meeting on Feb. 16 in Washington, D.C.

With its six new fellows, Texas A&M has 51 AAAS fellows among its current faculty.