Two LSI scientists named AAAS fellows

ANN ARBOR—Fifteen researchers at the University of Michigan — including two from the Life Sciences Institute — have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

This year, 416 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. In 2017, seven U-M faculty members were named AAAS fellows.

The new fellows from the LSI are:

• Jiandie Lin, the Bradley M. Patten Collegiate Professor in the Life Sciences and research professor, U-M Life Sciences Institute, and professor of cell and developmental biology, U-M Medical School, for distinguished contributions to the field of diabetes and metabolism, particularly for elucidating genetic programs and secreted factors responsible for inter-organ metabolic crosstalk.
• Carole Parent, the Lynne and Raymond W. Ruddon Collegiate Professor of Cancer Biology and Pharmacology, professor of pharmacology, and cell and developmental biology, U-M Medical School, and adjunct research professor, U-M Life Sciences Institute, for distinguished contributions to the field of chemotaxis and directed cell migration to understand cell-cell communication, and exceptional mentorship of women in science.

The others include:

• Roger Albin, the Anne B. Young Collegiate Professor of Neurology, U-M Medical School, and chief of neuroscience research, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, for distinguished contributions to systems and translational neuroscience, particularly for fundamental insights into basal ganglia function and basal ganglia disorders.
• Zhan Chen, professor of chemistry, biophysics, and applied physics, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, and professor of macromolecular science and engineering, College of Engineering, for distinguished contributions to the field of chemistry, particularly for the development and application of sum frequency generation vibrational spectroscopy to the characterization of surfaces and interfaces.
• Timothy Chupp, professor of physics, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, for pioneering development of noble-gas nuclear polarization techniques and applications to investigations of the structure of the neutron, precision NMR measurements, tests of the fundamental laws of elementary particle interactions, polarization of neutrons and neutron decay.
• Robert Denver, chair and professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, and ecology and evolutionary biology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, for distinguished contributions to the field of comparative neuroendocrinology, particularly for understanding hormone actions during brain development at molecular and organismal levels in varying environments.
• Eric Fearon, the Emanuel N. Maisel Professor of Oncology and professor of internal medicine, human genetics, and pathology, U-M Medical School, and director of the U-M Rogel Cancer Center, for distinguished contributions to the cancer field, particularly in defining the role of accumulated mutations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes in colon cancer pathogenesis.
• Thomas Glover, professor of human genetics, pathology, and pediatrics and communicable diseases, U-M Medical School, for distinguished contributions to the field of human genetics, particularly for mechanistic understanding of genome instability and its contributions to genetic disease and cancer.
• Margaret Gnegy, professor and associate chair for education, Department of Pharmacology, Medical School, for distinguished contributions to our understanding of dopamine and amphetamine mechanisms of action, and for exceptional mentorship of women in sciences.
• Edward Ionides, professor of statistics, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, for distinguished contributions to the theory and practice of statistical inference for partially observed stochastic dynamic systems, with applications including infectious disease transmission.
• Pedro R. Lowenstein, the Richard Schneider Collegiate Professor of Neurosurgery and professor of cell and developmental biology, Medical School, for distinguished contributions to the field of gene and immunotherapies to treat malignant gliomas, particularly for translating the new knowledge into clinical trials for patients.
• Amit Misra, chair and professor of materials science and engineering, and mechanical engineering, College of Engineering, for seminal contributions to the nanomechanics and radiation effects in nanolayered composite materials, mentoring of early career scientists, and leadership in academia and professional societies.
• Donald Puro, professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences, and molecular and integrative physiology, U-M Medical School, for distinguished contributions to the field of ocular physiology and pathobiology, particularly using the patch-clamp technique in novel ways to study mechanisms of ophthalmic disease.
• Willard Rodgers, research professor emeritus, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, for distinguished contributions to the study of cognitive, social and economic factors in happiness, health and aging, and for developing the Health and Retirement Study.
• Liangyou Rui, professor of molecular and integrative physiology, and internal medicine-gastroenterology, U-M Medical School, for distinguished contributions to the field of medical science, particularly for obesity, diabetes and liver disease, and for using mouse models to study human disease.

AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science as well as Science Translational Medicine, Science Signaling, Science Advances, Science Immunology and Science Robotics. AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes nearly 250 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals.

New fellows will be honored in February during the 2019 AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.