Scientists named AAAS fellows

Four University faculty and staff members were named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) this month in honor of their work in the fields of biology, chemistry and statistics.

AAAS, founded in 1848 as a nonprofit organization, is now the world's largest scientific society. Staff member Mary Baum GS '89, associate professor Laura Landweber '89 and professors Jianqing Fan and Stephen Pacala were among the 376 scientists from around the world named AAAS fellows this year.

Baum, who is the only non-faculty member at the University to be named a fellow, was recognized for her "work in encouraging women and minorities in the sciences." Baum, who was named a fellow in chemistry, received her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University in 1989.

"I was really humbled by it," she said. "It's a real honor. It's a real recognition of one's contributions to the field."

Baum has worked to address the concerns of women and minorities in academics, including balancing work and home and the pressures of being a female academic.

Her efforts to promote female and minority leadership in the sciences began when she was a practicing scientist. "I was the chair of a national conference, and I made sure that there was a woman speaking at every session," she said. Baum added that this practice is now common.

Baum is the Director of Leadership Gifts in the Office of Development, where she has worked since 1994 to match alumni funds with University needs.

Fan, a University professor in operations research and financial engineering (ORFE) since 2003, was recognized for his "far-reaching contributions to statistical theory and methods, financial econometrics and statistical applications to health sciences." He is one of five fellows named in the statistics category.

Both Landweber and Pacala were named fellows in Biological Sciences.

Landweber, an associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, was recognized "for probing the diversity of genetic systems in eukaryotes." Her work revolves around the evolution of complex genetic systems.

"What I have enjoyed the most with working with the non-modeled systems is the way that life works much more according to the unusual than the usual," she said.

Landweber has been a faculty member in biology since 1994.

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"It's delightful to be recognized for something different," she said. "As somebody who works in this field, one encounters the difficulties of when people don't have the same appreciation for the organisms that I choose to work on."

Recognized for his "development of the soundest and most influential forest growth simulator available," Pacala's work now involves global climate and ecosystem interactions.

Pacala has been teaching at the University since 1992. He is the acting director of the Princeton Environmental Institute, and was named the Frederick D. Petrie Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 2000.

A total of 38 other University faculty and staff members have been named AAAS fellows to date.

The fellows will be recognized at the official AAAS conference in February.