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Eight from MIT named AAAS fellows

Institute researchers are recognized for ‘scientifically or socially distinguished’ contributions.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has awarded the distinction of fellow to 531 members, including eight members of the MIT community.

Fellows are recognized by their peers for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. New fellows will be presented with an official certificate and the society’s gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Feb. 20 at the association’s annual meeting in San Diego.

The following individuals are new AAAS fellows:

Gang Chen, the Carl Richard Soderberg Professor in Power Engineering, was named for “advances in understanding heat transfer at the nanoscale and in developing thermal energy technologies.”

Qing Hu, a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was cited for “outstanding contributions to the development of terahertz (THz) quantum-cascade lasers and real-time THz imaging at video rate.”

Roger D. Kamm, the Germeshausen Professor of Mechanical and Biological Engineering, was named a fellow for “his contributions to the understanding of mechanics at the molecular and cellular levels and for his leadership of the U.S. National Committee on Biomechanics and the World Council on Biomechanics.”

Thomas F. Knight, a senior research scientist in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was cited for “distinguished pioneering contributions to the field of computing technology in software, architecture, and VLSI circuitry, and to the engineering discipline of synthetic biology.”

Barry R. Masters, a research affiliate in the Department of Biological Engineering, was named for “fundamental contributions to understanding corneal and epithelial metabolism and differentiation by the application of confocal and two-photon in vivo imaging microscopy.”

Tomaso A. Poggio, the Eugene McDermott Professor in the Brain Sciences and Human Behavior, was named a fellow for “distinguished contributions to computational neuroscience, in particular, computational vision learning and regularization theory, biophysics of computation and models of recognition in the visual cortex.”

Jeffrey I. Steinfeld, professor emeritus in the Department of Chemistry, was cited for “innovative techniques in spectroscopy on molecules that play critical roles in the Earth's atmosphere and for introducing concepts of sustainability across the chemical curriculum.”

Bruce Tidor
, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science and biological engineering, was named for “use of computational modeling to make seminal contributions to understanding the structure and function of proteins and in designing molecules.”

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