USF is among top 10 organizations worldwide with Fellows named this year

University of South Florida (USF Innovation)Nov 26 2013

Six faculty members at the University of South Florida in Tampa have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as an AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

This year 388 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

With six Fellows, the University of South Florida ranks in the top ten worldwide for organizations with the most AAAS Fellows named this year. This is the second year in a row that USF has been in the top ten worldwide. USF is #1 in Florida for 2013 AAAS Fellows, also for the second year in a row.

Others among the top ten include Vanderbilt University (18 Fellows), Duke University (12 Fellows), University of California, Davis (10 Fellows), University of Michigan (8 Fellows). Pennsylvania State University and Texas A&M University tied for sixth place with seven Fellows each. Tied for seventh place with USF, with six fellows each, were Cornell University, Ohio State University, University of California, San Diego, University of Chicago, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and University of Southern California.

"The University of South Florida is proud of the research, scholarship and service accomplishments of these outstanding faculty members," said Dr. Paul R. Sanberg, AAAS Fellow and senior vice president for research and innovation at USF. "Our faculty are the key to our continued growth and success as a global research university."

New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Saturday, 15 February from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2014 AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago.

This year's AAAS Fellows will be formally announced in the AAAS News & Notes section of the journal Science on 29 November 2013.

AAAS Fellows from the University of South Florida

As part of the Section on Chemistry:

• Dr. Robert H. Byrne, Distinguished Research Professor of Marine Science, for distinguished contributions to the fields of marine chemistry and physical chemistry of seawater, particularly in ocean acidification and development of novel in-situ instrumentation. As a physical chemist he has investigated the nature of trace metals in seawater, developed new methods to characterize the marine carbon dioxide system, and designed and deployed instruments to make underwater measurements of nutrients, trace metals, and the marine carbon system. He has spent over 500 days at sea in the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic Oceans and Gulf of Mexico studying ocean acidification. He has 190 peer-reviewed papers and 13 patents. He received the USF Sigma Xi Outstanding Faculty Research Award, USF Excellence in Innovation Award, and ARCS Foundation STEM Innovation and Research Award. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and a charter member of the National Academy of Inventors.

As part of the Section on Biological Sciences:

• Dr. Gordon A. Fox, Associate Professor of Integrative Biology, College of Arts and Sciences, for contributions to plant conservation, ecology, and evolution, especially in the development of practical quantitative tools for population biology. Fox, a native of Detroit, received a B.A. in history from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Arizona. Since joining USF in 1999, he has been continuously funded by federal grants. His research focuses on the ecology, evolution, and conservation of plant populations, and on developing practical quantitative tools for population biology. His research has appeared in journals like Ecology, Ecology Letters, Evolution, and Conservation Biology. He is co-author of The Ecology of Plants, and senior editor of the forthcoming book Ecological Statistics.

• Dr. Daniel V. Lim, Distinguished University Professor of Global Health and Cell Biology, Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Colleges of Public Health and Arts and Sciences, for distinguished contributions to the field of microbiology for rapid sample processing and detection of pathogens in food, water, and infectious diseases including LIM Broth. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, actively involved in the American Society for Microbiology, and has served on NIH and other federal study sections and the National Academies Committee on Water System Security Research. He is the inventor of LIM Broth, used worldwide for rapid growth of group B. streptococci, and has received numerous awards and honors, including the Florida Governor's Award for Outstanding Contribution in Science and Technology and the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation's Homeland Security Award in the Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Field. He is a charter member of the National Academy of Inventors.

As part of the Section on Psychology:

• Dr. Mark Stuart Goldman, Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences, for contributions to alcohol expectancies, particularly to the cognitive understanding of alcohol risk. He received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University, is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, and is board certified in clinical psychology. He has served as Director of Clinical Psychology Training at USF, Associate Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, reviewer/editor for numerous scientific journals, member of NIAAA's National Advisory Council, and President of the APA Division on Addictions and the Research Society on Alcoholism. He received a MERIT Award from the NIAAA in 1992.

As part of the Section on Dentistry and Oral Health Sciences:

• Dr. Cindy L. Munro, Professor and Associate Dean for Research and Innovation, College of Nursing, for distinguished contributions to improving outcomes in critical illness, through research and as editor of the American Journal of Critical Care. She earned her PhD in Nursing and Microbiology and Immunology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her NIH funded research on oral care in critically ill adults has had a rapid and dramatic effect on clinical practice. She is a Fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and the American Academy of Nursing, serving on the Acute and Critical Care Expert Panel. She is co-editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Critical Care and President-elect of the Southern Nursing Research Society.

As part of the Section on Information, Computing & Communication:

• Dr. Sudeep Sarkar, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, and Associate Vice President for Research & Innovation, for distinguished contributions to the field of computer vision and pattern recognition, particularly in perceptual organization, grouping, and biometrics. He received his B.Tech. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering, on a University Presidential Fellowship, from The Ohio State University. He joined USF in 1993. He is the recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER award, the USF Teaching Incentive Program Award for Undergraduate Teaching Excellence, the Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, and the Theodore and Venette Askounes-Ashford Distinguished Scholar Award. He is an IEEE Fellow, IAPR Fellow, and a charter member of the National Academy of Inventors and serves on its national board of directors.

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.

Each steering group reviews the nominations of individuals within its respective section and a final list is forwarded to the AAAS Council, which votes on the aggregate list.

The Council is the policymaking body of the Association, chaired by the AAAS president, and consisting of the members of the board of directors, the retiring section chairs, delegates from each electorate and each regional division, and two delegates from the National Association of Academies of Science.