11/26/2006
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Ten faculty members of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been awarded the distinction of AAAS Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science: Stewart H. Berlocher, Sydney A. Cameron, Akira Chiba, Linda P.B. Katehi, James M. Lisy, Todd J. Martinez, Mark E. Nelson, Marc Snir, Olga Soffer and Robert L. Sprague.
Election as a fellow is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers. This year 449 members were elevated to this rank because of their efforts to advance science or its applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished.
"Illinois students are truly fortunate to learn from and work alongside professors such as these," said Richard Herman, the chancellor of the Urbana campus. "Through their research and teaching, these faculty members are pioneering the future of science, and passing on their knowledge and love of learning to a new generation of scientists."
Martinez, a professor of chemistry and a researcher at the Beckman Institute and at the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, was chosen for contributions to the development of the ab initio molecular spawning method, and applications to fundamental photochemical reactions where electron-nuclear separability breaks down.
The election of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. This year's fellows will be recognized during the AAAS annual meeting in San Francisco in February. AAAS, which publishes the journal Science, was founded in 1848; it is the world's largest general scientific society.