Six University of Florida professors named AAAS 2012 fellows

November 29, 2012

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Six University of Florida professors have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers because of their distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

They are:

Jennifer Sinclair Curtis, distinguished professor of chemical engineering and associate dean for research, College of Engineering. For seminal contributions to the understanding of particle flow and the dynamics of gas-solid flows.

James W. Jones, distinguished professor of agricultural and biological engineering in the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, and an affiliate faculty member of the Water Institute. For leadership in modeling dynamic crop, soil, climate and management interactions, and developing decision support systems for climate risk management in agriculture and water resources.

Karen E. Koch, professor of horticultural sciences in the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and the UF Genetics Institute. For pioneering research in sugar metabolism that led to a highly influential “feast and famine” framework for understanding sugar signaling in plants.

Ranga Narayanan, professor of chemical engineering, director of the Center for Surface Science and Engineering. For distinguished contributions in interfacial fluid mechanics and for leadership in international research, education and outreach in multiphase fluid mechanics.

Ira M. Longini Jr., professor of biostatistics at the Colleges of Public Health and Health Professions and Medicine and co-director of the Center for Statistics and Quantitative Infectious Diseases at the UF Emerging Pathogens Institute. For seminal contributions to statistics and modeling of infectious diseases, including influenza, HIV, cholera and dengue, and the resulting significant improvements in global health.

Christine E. Schmidt, chair of the Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering. For leading contributions to biomaterials science and tissue engineering.

New Fellows were presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue rosette — representing science and engineering, respectively — pin on Feb. 16 during the 2013 AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston.

This year 702 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS, the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal Science, as well as Science Translational Medicine, and Science Signaling. The nonprofit organization was founded in 1848, and includes 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million.

For more information, visit www.aaas.org.