Seven Illinois professors elected AAAS Fellows

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Seven University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professors have been elected 2023 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. They are among the 502 scientists, engineers and innovators recognized for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements by the world’s largest general scientific society. 

The new U. of I. fellows are computer science professor Sarita Adve; evolution, ecology and behavior professor Rebecca Fuller; civil and environmental engineering professor Praveen Kumar; chemistry professor Christy Landes; communication professor Marshall Scott Poole; natural resources and environmental sciences professor Cory Suski; and crop sciences and NRES professor Martin Williams, an ecologist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.  

Adve is the Richard T. Cheng Professor of Computer Science and the director of IMMERSE: Center for Immersive Computing at the U. of I.. Her research spans the computing system stack, from hardware to applications, with a recent focus on immersive computing. She has received multiple awards for her research, teaching, mentoring and service. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The AAAS selected her “for distinguished contributions to both high-performance computing architectures and ensuring the inclusion of marginalized populations within computing.”

Fuller’s research explores the evolution of fishes to understand how natural and sexual selection vary over time and space, how genetics drive variation within populations, how visual dynamics influence behavior and selection, and how natural selection and genomic rearrangements contribute to speciation. She is an affiliate of the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at Illinois, and she is the recipient of multiple awards for her research, teaching and mentoring. The AAAS selected her “for distinguished contributions to the field of evolutionary biology, particularly for understanding the behavioral, sensory and genetic basis of mate-choice-driven processes of speciation.”

Kumar is the Colonel Harry F. and Frankie M. Lovell Endowed Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the executive director of the Prairie Research Institute at the U. of I. His research focuses on the modeling and prediction of nonlinear multiscale interactions resulting from the flow of water across the atmosphere, soil, vegetation and human systems. He is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the American Meteorological Society. The AAAS selected him “for pioneering the field of hydrocomplexity and for his groundbreaking contribution on the emergent behavior in multiscale water, soil, climate and vegetation interactions in the context of critical zone science.”

Landes is the Jerry A. Walker Endowed Chair in Chemistry at Illinois. She is an experimental physical chemist who studies the structure-function relationships in biological processes to inspire innovations in materials design. She is a recipient of the 2024 Kazuhiko Kinosita Award in Single-Molecule Biophysics from the Biophysical Society “for her exciting developments of single-molecule measurement techniques and their application to chemical and biological systems such as polymers and ion channels.” The AAAS selected her “for the development of next-generation tools and models to image and understand dynamics governing separations at soft interfaces at the single analyte limit.”

Poole is the David L. Swanson Professor Emeritus of Communication at the U. of I. His research interests include group and organizational communication, information and communication technologies, collaboration, organizational change and innovation, and theory construction. One of Scott’s current research projects is the Virtual Worlds Exploratorium Project, a multi-university collaboration which investigates communication and behavior in massive multiplayer online games. AAAS selected him “for distinguished contributions to the science of group and organizational communication, especially studies of how organizational structure and diversity affect innovation and productivity.”

Suski’s research integrates tools in animal behavior, animal physiology and ecology to protect aquatic resources. He designs novel conservation strategies for stressors that include climate change, angling and invasive species. His work spans many different levels of organization, ranging from genes to watersheds, and involves both field and laboratory work. The AAAS selected him “for distinguished contributions in the fields of ecological physiology and conservation science, particularly the innovation of physiological barriers to dispersal by invasive aquatic species.”

Williams works to develop models that reduce food producers’ exposure to risks posed by climate change and weeds. His laboratory uses an array of experimental approaches aimed at building resilience in crop management systems. A key goal is to understand how climate variability influences crop and weed-management outcomes while integrating new chemical and non-chemical tactics for managing weeds in Midwest grain and specialty crops. He is an internationally recognized leader in explaining and addressing critical problems in weed management and crop production. The AAAS selected him “for distinguished contributions to the fields of weed science and vegetable crop production, and service to those communities.”

“Every year, the AAAS announcement of new fellows at the U. of I. reminds us of our faculty members’ profound contributions to science and society,” said Illinois Chancellor Robert J. Jones. “This new crop of fellows has already advanced our understanding of agriculture, chemistry, engineering, technology, communication and the environment, while also demonstrating a fierce commitment to excellence in teaching and mentoring our students.”