CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Eight professors at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been elected 2019 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Plant biology professor and researcher Elizabeth “Lisa” Ainsworth; mechanical science and engineering professor Andrew Alleyne; materials science and engineering professor David Cahill; chemistry professor Paul Hergenrother; evolution, ecology and behavior professor Andrew Suarez; and computer science professors Sheldon Jacobson, Klara Nahrstedt and Tao Xie are among the 443 people to be awarded the distinction of AAAS Fellow this year.
Ainsworth is the research leader of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service Global Change and Photosynthesis Research Unit. Her research examines genetic variation in crop responses to air pollution and climate change. A key goal of her work is to maximize crop production in the future. She was the 2019 recipient of the National Academy of Sciences Prize in Food and Agricultural Research and a 2018 recipient of the Presidential Award from the Crop Sciences Society of America. She also is affiliated with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology at the U. of I.
Alleyne is a Ralph and Catherine Fisher Professor of Engineering and is recognized for his contributions to the theory and practice of automatic control. His expertise spans precision motion control for advanced manufacturing as well as control of transient thermal systems. He is currently tackling the thermal and electrical challenges surrounding electrified mobility through the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center on Power Optimization for Electro Thermal Systems. He is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He serves on the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board and the National Academies Board on Army Research and Development.
Cahill is a Willett Professor of Engineering and was the department head of materials science and engineering from 2010-18. He is an expert on the concept of minimum thermal conductivity and transient optical measurement techniques. His research program focuses on developing a microscopic understanding of thermal transport at the nanoscale; the discovery of materials with enhanced thermal function; the interactions between phonons, electrons, photons and spin; and advancing fundamental understanding of interfaces between materials and water. Cahill is an American Physical Society fellow and received the 2018 Innovation in Materials Characterization Award of the Materials Research Society.
Hergenrother is an expert in the molecular basis of disease and has distinguished himself by translating his most promising discoveries into real-world applications. He has made advances in the way new medicines are discovered and developed, using readily available natural products as the starting point for complex molecule synthesis. His discoveries impact not only basic scientific research but also the lives of cancer patients. Hergenrother received the 2017 American Chemical Society Sosnovsky Award for Cancer research. He also is affiliated with the IGB and the Carle Illinois College of Medicine at the U. of I.
Jacobson, a Founder Professor in Computer Science, applies his expertise in operations research and data science to topics that inform public policy. His research has produced data-driven analysis of elections, political redistricting, pediatric vaccines, cellphone use while driving, mass killing trends, and links between obesity and transportation. His seminal work on risk-based security provided the technical foundations that informed the design of TSA PreCheck. He also is known nationally for his work on bracketology – the analysis of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament – and created the BracketOdds website. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003. He also is affiliated with the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.
Nahrstedt, the Ralph and Catherine Fisher Professor of Computer Science and director of the Coordinated Science Laboratory, is an expert in multimedia systems and networks. Her expertise in dynamic soft-real-time CPU scheduling and energy-efficient operating systems for mobile multimedia devices is widely recognized in academia and industry. She is a member of the Academy of Sciences in Germany and belongs to the Excellence Commission appointed by the Joint Science Conference of the German Federal Government. Nahrstedt received the 2019 Drucker Award from the Grainger College of Engineering and also is affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the U. of I. and the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.
Suarez, a professor of entomology and head of the department of evolution, ecology and behavior, is a leading figure in conservation and invasion biology. He is an expert on introduced ants, especially the globally invasive Argentine ant, Linepithema humile. His research on native populations of invasive species demonstrated the utility of a biogeographic approach to understanding invasion success, pioneering an approach that is considered the gold standard in the field. He also conducts research on trap-jaw ants, whose mandibles are among the fastest biological movements. Suarez is a recipient of the 2017 University of Illinois Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. He also is affiliated with the IGB.
Xie is a Willett Faculty Scholar. His work in software engineering focuses on software testing, analytics and security; the intersection between software engineering and artificial intelligence; and educational software engineering. His expertise in these areas has earned him many honors, including being elected an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Fellow in 2018 and an Association for Computing Machinery Distinguished Scientist in 2015.
Founded in 1848, AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society. Fellows are chosen by their peers for outstanding contribution to the field. The new Fellows will be honored at the 2020 AAAS annual meeting in Washington, D.C.