Eleven faculty named AAAS fellows

Eleven members of the UW–Madison faculty have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Founded in 1848, AAAS has nearly 140,000 members from 130 countries; it represents the largest federation of scientists. It also publishes the weekly, peer-reviewed journal Science.

The UW faculty members, among 348 new fellows selected this year by AAAS, were recognized for their distinguished efforts to advance science or foster applications deemed scientifically or socially significant. They include:

* Perry Allen Frey, professor of biochemistry, for his contributions to the analysis of enzymatic reactions in the areas of phosphate transfer, hydrogen bonding and free radicals.

* Thomas J. Givnish, professor of botany and environmental studies, for his seminal studies on plants’ geographic differentiation and adaptive radiation, or the rise of diversity of ecological roles within a lineage.

* Richard L. Gourse, professor of bacteriology, for his contributions to the field of transcription and regulation. His work focuses on bacteria and the mechanism that starts transcription, or the process by which RNA is made from DNA.

* Linda E. Graham, professor of botany and environmental studies, for her fundamental studies on the evolution of early land plants and her analysis of charophycean green algae and bryophytes, the earliest-divergent plant lineages.

* Catherine Hurt Middlecamp, director of the Chemistry Learning Center, for her leadership in chemistry and higher education, work on national science learning projects and her role in developing culturally inclusive curricular materials.

* Robert J. McMahon, professor of chemistry, for his work in the area of photochemistry and the study of organic and organometallic compounds.

* Gary D. Sandefur, professor of sociology, for his pioneering contributions to the study of poverty, race and ethnicity, and his work on the consequences of growing up in a single-parent household.

* Mark S. Seidenberg, professor of psychology, for his work to understand aspects of language structure, acquisition and use, particularly through the innovative use of computational models.

* James L. Skinner, professor of chemistry, for his contributions to statistical mechanics, including the theory of time-dependent phenomena in liquids, proteins, and crystalline and amorphous solids.

* Elliott R. Sober, professor of philosophy, for his research and publication in the philosophy of biology, notably in the theory of evolutionary biology and natural-selection theory.

* Karen B. Strier, professor of anthropology, for her extensive research on the behavior, ecology, reproductive biology and conservation of the endangered woolly spider monkey and studies of its behavior.