December 3, 2020
A number of individuals involved in science engagement have been elected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) as AAAS Fellows. Beginning in 1874, AAAS has been electing Fellows in recognition of diverse accomplishments, including research, leadership, teaching, mentoring, fostering collaborations, and advancing public understanding of science.
James Bell (Section on Education)
Project Director and Principal Investigator, Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE)
For his distinguished work building capacity and infrastructure to promote broadening participation in STEM through informal science education.
Denise Su (Section on Anthropology)
Chief Academic Engagement Officer, Gertrude Haskell Britton Chair of Education, and Curator of Paleobotany and Paleoecology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History
For notable contributions to the paleoecology of early hominins, descriptions of primate taxa, and overwhelming dedication to make science accessible to all through outreach.
We also acknowledge one researcher associated with a long-term ASTC member institution elected as a AAAS Fellow: Johney B. Green, National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
In addition, AAAS has honored several others not affiliated with ASTC member institutions with a commitment to informal science education and/or public engagement with science including the following:
- Tinsley Davis, National Association of Science Writers
- Xiufeng Liu, University at Buffalo, the State University of New York, who is currently a program director in the Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings at the National Science Foundation
- Andrew Maynard, Arizona State University, who is a former advisory board member for the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (precursor to NISE Net) and producer of the Risk Bites YouTube channel
- Edna Tan, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, who was featured in CAISE’s STEM identity video interview series and spoke at the 2019 InclusiveSciComm Symposium
The class of 2019 includes a total of 489 new Fellows, representing each of AAAS’s 24 sections. Fellows—who must be nominated by three previous Fellows, the section steering group, or the AAAS CEO—are reviewed first within the relevant section and then by the AAAS Council.
The new Fellows will be inducted virtually on February 13, 2021 following the conclusion of the AAAS Annual Meeting. Each will receive official certificates and rosette pins in gold and blue, colors which symbolize science and engineering.
In addition, the AAAS Education Section will be honoring its 15 new AAAS Fellows on Monday, February 8, 2021 during the Education Section Social (6:00 p.m. ET) and Business Meeting (7:00 p.m. ET). AAAS membership is not required to attend; you can register for the Public Event Passport at https://virtual.aaas.org/.