Awards, People

Three new AAAS Fellows from UC Berkeley

By Sarah Yang

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AAAS names three UC Berkeley faculty as fellows. They are (shown l-r) Steven Beissinger, James Demmel and Watson Laetsch.

Three UC Berkeley faculty members are among 347 new fellows named to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) today. Election as a AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers in recognition of their achievements in advancing science or its applications.

The new UC Berkeley members are:

  • Steven Beissinger, professor of environmental sciences, policy and management, who was cited for his distinguished contributions to conservation biology and avian population biology, with respect to endangered species, climate change, parental care, and long-term studies of tropical parrots.
  • James Demmel, professor of mathematics and of computer sciences, who was cited for his distinguished contributions to the theory and practice of numerical linear algebra, especially for innovative approaches in parallel computing.
  • Watson “Mac” Laetsch, professor emeritus of plant and microbial biology, who was cited for his distinguished contributions to the foundation of the field of informal science education, creative institutional leadership, and numerous graduate students with distinguished careers in this profession.

These new elections bring to 220 the number of AAAS fellows at UC Berkeley.

This year’s fellows will be published in the Nov. 27 issue of the journal Science. They will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue rosette pin on Saturday, Feb. 13, at the 2016 AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Founded in 1848, AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal Science. The association includes 254 affiliated societies and academies of science.