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Five at U. of I. named Fellows of American Association for Advancement of Science
Jim Barlow,
Life Sciences Editor
217-333-5802; jebarlow@illinois.edu
10/28/04
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —
Five faculty members of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
have been awarded the distinction of AAAS Fellow by the American Association
for the Advancement of Science: C.K. (Tina) Gunsalus, Paul B. Kelter,
Harris A. Lewin, Benjamin W. Wah and John H. Weaver.
Election as a fellow is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers.
This year 308 members were elevated to this rank because of their efforts
to advance science or its applications that are deemed scientifically
or socially distinguished. The fellows will be announced in the Oct.
29 issue of the journal Science, which is published by AAAS.
Gunsalus, special counsel in the Office of University Counsel and adjunct
professor in the College of Law,
was selected “for sustained contributions to the national debate
over improving the practical handling of ethical, legal, professional
and administrative issues as they affect scientific research and the
academic research environment.” She was named assistant vice chancellor
for research in 1984 and has served the campus in numerous positions.
Her work has included technology transfer, managing conflicts of interest
and human-subject protection. She also served as campus research standards
officer, dealing with allegations of professional misconduct by faculty
and students. She has served on the Committee on Research Integrity
of the Association of American Medical Colleges and on the U.S. Commission
on Research Integrity.
Kelter, director of the division of general
chemistry, was selected “for energetic and effective leadership
in chemical education, both at the college and high-school levels, for
excellence in teaching, and for daring to believe that all students
can learn.”
Before coming to Illinois in 2003, Kelter served as an educational specialist
for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and on the faculty
at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of North Carolina
at Greensboro. He also has led numerous workshops with schoolteachers
in Nebraska, North Carolina and Wisconsin.
Lewin, the director of the Institute
for Genomic Biology and holder of the Gutgsell Endowed Chair in
the College of Agricultural, Consumer
and Environmental Sciences, was chosen “for pioneering studies
in the fields of cattle immunogenetics and genomics.” He joined
the department of animal sciences at Illinois in 1984. Lewin also is
a leader of a project that is sequencing the cattle genome and striving
to determine the origin, evolution and function of cattle genes.
Wah, the Franklin W. Woeltge Endowed Professor in electrical
and computer engineering, was elected as a fellow “for outstanding
and innovative contributions to the theory and applications of nonlinear
optimization.” Before joining Illinois in 1985, Wah was on the
Purdue University faculty. In 1988-89, he served as a program director
at the National Science Foundation. In addition to his focus on nonlinear
optimization,
Wah also studies multimedia signal processing, artificial neural networks,
computer networks, evolutionary computation, and parallel and distributed
processing.
Weaver, the Donald B. Willett Professor of the College
of Engineering, was chosen “for seminal studies on the physics
and chemistry of surfaces, interfaces and nanostructures.” His
name appears on two patents, and he has written more than 450 peer-reviewed
research papers. Weaver joined the Illinois faculty in 2000 and is a
professor in two departments: materials science and engineering, and
of physics. He previously served on the staff at the Synchrotron Radiation
Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and on the faculty
at the University of Minnesota.
The election of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. This year’s fellows
will be honored during the AAAS annual meeting in Washington, D.C.,
in February. AAAS, a non-profit organization founded in 1848, is the
world’s largest general scientific society.
