Three UF researchers are named AAAS 2018 Fellows
Three University of Florida research professors, Robert J. Ferl (agriculture, food and renewable resources), Jeffrey B. Jones (agriculture, food and renewable resources) and David Howard Reitze (physics) have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the global scientific society announced today. Election as a Fellow is 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. New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on February 16 at 2019 AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. This year’s AAAS Fellows will be formally announced in the AAAS News & Notes section of the journal Science on 29 November 2018.
As part of the agriculture, food and renewable resources section, Ferl, a geneticist and molecular biologist who serves as director and distinguished professor at the Interdisciplinary Center or Biotechnology Research, was elected for distinguished scientific contributions to astrobiology and a leadership role in biological and physical science in space.
Professor Jones, a plant pathologist at UF/IFAS, was cited for distinguished contributions in research and training in the field of bacterial disease control in fruits and vegetables and toward an improved molecular understanding of bacterial disease processes.
Physics professor at the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, David Howard Reitze, was elected as an AAAS Fellow for outstanding leadership of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory into the era of the discovery of the first gravitational waves.
The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Currently, members can be considered for the rank of Fellow if nominated by the steering groups of the Association’s 24 sections, or by any three Fellows who are current AAAS members (so long as two of the three sponsors are not affiliated with the nominee’s institution), or by the AAAS chief executive officer. Fellows must have been continuous members of AAAS for four years by the end of the calendar year in which they are elected. AAAS Fellow’s lifetime honor comes with an expectation that recipients maintain the highest standards of professional ethics and scientific integrity.