37 UC scholars named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Thirty-seven UC scholars have been named 2023 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), part of the organization’s 150th anniversary class. To be named a fellow of AAAS, one of the world’s largest general scientific societies and publisher of the Science family of journals, is a distinguished lifetime honor.

They join an elite group of hundreds of AAAS fellows across UC. A familiar face will soon be presiding over the prestigious organization: Earlier this year, Dr. Theresa Maldonado, UC’s vice president for research and innovation, was elected president of AAAS.

This latest class is comprised of 502 scientists, engineers and innovators across 24 fields at the forefront of emerging technologies, semiconductor production, environmental issues, science education, innovative therapies, and more.

UC’s 37 fellows comprise 8 campuses (inclusive of schools of medicine) and 2 national laboratories. (UC Berkeley and Berkeley Lab have overlap on one fellow).

2023 UC AAAS Fellows

Eligible nominees are members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished and who have been continuous AAAS members for at least four years leading up to the year of their nomination. Fellows have included Thomas Edison, W.E.B DuBois, Maria Mitchell, Steven Chu, Ellen Ochoa and Irwin M. Jacobs.

The new fellows will receive a certificate and a gold and blue rosette pin (representing science and engineering, respectively) to commemorate their election and will be celebrated at a forum on September 21, 2024. That evening, AAAS will also celebrate the program’s 150th anniversary at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C.

AAAS was founded in 1780 to honor excellence and to convene leaders from every field of human endeavor to examine new ideas, address issues of importance to the nation and the world, and work together “as expressed in our charter, ‘to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent, and virtuous people.’” Fellows have been announced since 1874.

AAAS recently elected a new president of the organization, the University of California Vice President for Research and Innovation Theresa Maldonado. She will serve a one-year term as president-elect, followed by one year as AAAS president, and one year as immediate past-president.

A full list of 2023 fellows is below, listed by AAAS section:

Agriculture, Food & Renewable Resources

Siobhan Brady, UC Davis

Anthropology

Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, UC Santa Cruz

Biological Sciences

Nicole King, UC Berkeley

Jian-Hua Mao, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

Trent Northen, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Kit Pogliano, UC San Diego

Beth Shapiro, UC Santa Cruz

Matthew Welch, UC Berkeley

Chemistry

Louise A. Berben, UC Davis

Kevin John, Los Alamos National Laboratory 

Filipp Furche, UC Irvine

M. Scott Shell, UC Santa Barbara

Jenny Yang, UC Irvine

Education

Ozcan Gulacar, UC Davis

Engineering

Chen-Nee Chuah, UC Davis

Robert Heath, UC San Diego

Ravi Prasher, UC Berkeley

Beth Pruitt, UC Santa Barbara

Sayeef Salahuddin, UC Berkeley

General Interest in Science & Engineering

Robert Irion, UC Santa Cruz

Mathematics

Peter Ebenfelt, UC San Diego

Natalia Komarova, UC San Diego

Mariel Vázquez, UC Davis

Medical Sciences

Andreas Bäumler, UC Davis

Emanual Maverakis, UC Davis

Luis Fernando Santana, UC Davis

Renée Tsolis, UC Davis

Owen Witte, UCLA

Neuroscience 

Allan J. Tobin, UCLA

Physics

Michael Levi, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Berkeley

Alan Poon, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Timothy Tait, UC Irvine

Wei Xiong, UC San Diego

Psychology

Sonja Lyubomirsky, UC Riverside

Social, Economic & Political Sciences

Brad Barber, UC Davis

Richard Scheffler, UC Berkeley

Statistics

Daniel Gillen, UC Irvine