Three University of Colorado at Boulder faculty members have been elected fellows of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science for 2009.
The new AAAS fellows are Professor John Cumalat of the physics department, Professor Thomas Johnson of the integrative physiology department and Professor Diane McKnight of the civil, environmental and architectural engineering department. They were among 531 AAAS fellows elected by their peers for efforts to advance science or foster applications deemed scientifically or socially distinguished.
Cumalat was honored for his leadership in the design and implementation of beams, detectors and data analysis in multiple Fermilab experiments producing lasting measurement of properties of charmed particles. Cumalat is involved in the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator project located at the European Organization for Nuclear Research facility known as CERN.
Johnson, who also is a faculty member of CU-Boulder's Institute for Behavioral Genetics, was honored for his distinguished contributions in developing the Caenorhabditis elegans model for understanding the genetics of longevity and identifying genes associated with increased longevity and stress resistance.
McKnight, who also is a fellow of CU-Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, was honored for her outstanding contributions to coupled biogeochemistry and hydrology processes.
The three new AAAS fellows join 51 active or emeritus faculty members from CU-Boulder previously elected as fellows of the science association.
Founded in 1848, AAAS works to advance science for human well-being through its projects, programs and publications in the areas of science policy, science education and international scientific cooperation. AAAS includes 262 affiliated societies and academies of science serving 10 million individuals and publishes the journal Science.