Eight UM Scientists Named AAAS Fellows in 2007

Five Are Leaders in Climate Change-Related Research

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Five University of Maryland, College Park faculty and the director and two scientists of a joint University of Maryland-Department of Energy institute for climate change research, are among the 471 new fellows recently named by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Election as a fellow of AAAS, the world's largest general federation of scientists and the publisher of the journal Science, is an honor bestowed upon members by their peers, and, according to AAAS, was awarded to the new members "for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications."

The new AAAS fellows for 2007 will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Saturday, Feb. 16, at a special forum during the 2008 AAAS annual meeting in Boston.

The university's eight 2007 AAAS fellows bring the campus total of current fellows to 39. The new University of Maryland, College Park fellows are:

Ruth DeFries is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the winner of a 2007 McArthur Foundation "Genius" award. DeFries studies the relationship between the Earth's vegetative cover, human modifications of the landscape, and the biochemical processes that regulate the Earth's habitability, using both satellite data and field work. She holds a joint appointment in the Department of Geography, which is a leader in the use of satellite imaging to explore the human dimensions of global change and in the universitys Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, a leading center for climate change research and modeling that is a collaboration of the University of Maryland departments of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Geology and Geography, and the Earth Sciences Directorate at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Russell Dickerson, a professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, researches air quality in the United States, China and India. His research group, composed of chemists and meteorologists, develops analytical instruments for gases and particles (carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and other pollutants, aerosols, etc.) that affect air quality and/or climate. Using these instruments in the laboratory, field, and on ships and aircraft, they measure and interpret the results in terms of photochemistry and atmospheric physics. Regionally, they are studying air pollution in the Baltimore-Washington area (check the Ozone Forecast) and the role of the atmosphere in the chemistry of the Chesapeake Bay.

Alexander Dragt is a professor emeritus and senior research scientist in the Department of Physics and the Joint Quantum Institute, the latter a University of Maryland-based partnership between the university and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Dragt's current research focuses on three areas: nonlinear dynamics, accelerator physics and quantum computing.

Patrick O'Shea, is professor and chair of the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering in university's A. James Clark School of Engineering and a former director of the Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics (IREAP). Electrical & Computer Engineering is the largest department in the Clark School and has been ranked by US News & World Report as having the leading graduate programs in both electrical and computer engineering among public universities in the Mid-Atlantic and North East. O'Shea's technical expertise lies in the field of applied electromagnetics, nonlinear dynamics and charged particle beam technology and applications.

David Poeppel holds joint appointments as a professor in the Departments of Linguistics and Biology. He heads the University of Maryland's Cognitive Neuroscience of Language Laboratory, which has pioneered the use of neural imaging technology, such as magnetoencephalography, to study how humans perceive speech. A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Poeppel was the first scientist to win a coveted fellowship at the American Academy in Berlin, Germany, in 2004.

Anthony Janetos, is director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute (JGCRI), a College Park-based group that investigates the scientific, technological, economic and policy implications of climate change. The institute is a collaboration between the University of Maryland and the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. Janetos has written and spoken widely to policy, business, and scientific audiences on the need for scientific input and scientific assessment in the policymaking process and about the need to understand the scientific, environmental, economic, and policy linkages among the major global environmental issues.

James A. Edmonds is a Laboratory Fellow and a chief scientist at the Joint Global Change Research Institute. He is being recognized for "distinguished contributions to the field of climate change economics, particularly modeling and analyzing interactions of energy, the economy, technology, carbon cycle, and climate."

Richard Moss is a senior staff scientist the Joint Global Change Research Institute. He is being recognized for "leadership in national and international assessments of climate change and development of the nation's long-term plan for integrated research to address this problem." Moss is currently on assignment with the United Nations Foundation.

The AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society, founded in 1848, and includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science serving 10 million individuals. The tradition of AAAS fellows, who are chosen by their peers, began in 1874. The non-profit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more.