Six MU Faculty Members Named as Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

December 10th, 2012

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Six faculty members from the University of Missouri have been named as Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). AAAS members bestow the honor on their peers through an election process. The faculty members elected as fellows are:

• Stephen Alexander, professor of biological science – Alexander was elected for his distinguished contributions to the understanding of the molecular basis of drug resistance using model organisms, and for major contributions to the study of glycosylation, an enzymatic process in the body.

• Nelson Cowan, curators’ professor of psychology – Cowan was elected for his distinguished contributions to the field of human cognitive and developmental psychology and neuroscience, particularly regarding short-term working memory.

• Mark Flinn, professor of anthropology – Flinn was elected for his theoretical contributions in the area of the evolution of human behavior, and for pioneering field research on stress response, family environment and child health.

• Kattesh Katti, curators’ professor of radiology and physics in the School of Medicine and the College of Arts and Science and senior research scientist at the MU Research Reactor – Katti was elected for his distinguished contributions of nano-scale chemistry, particularly for ground breaking discoveries enabling application of chemical concepts for biomedical applications.

• Shuqun Zhang, professor of biochemistry – Zhang was elected for his distinguished contributions to plant signal transduction research, particularly toward understanding plant development, stress and defense.

• Melvin Oliver, adjunct professor of plant sciences – Oliver was elected for his distinguished contributions to plant stress biology, as well as promoting plant sciences both nationally and internationally.

“This recognition of our faculty’s accomplishments helps demonstrate the quality faculty and expertise that we have on campus,” MU Chancellor Brady Deaton said. “These faculty members are building MU’s core for the future. From AAAS Fellows come Nobel Laureates and other honors. We’re honored to have them as part of our faculty, educating our students and making discoveries that impact people’s lives.”

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (www.sciencemag.org) as well as Science Translational Medicine (www.sciencetranslationalmedicine.org) and Science Signaling (www.sciencesignaling.org). AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals.