Five UC San Diego Professors
Named 2009 AAAS Fellows

December 17, 2009

By Kim McDonald

Five professors at the University of California, San Diego have been named 2009 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the nation’s largest scientific organization.

Don W. Cleveland, Steve A. Kay, Kimberly Prather, Michael G. Rosenfeld and Robert Schmidt were among 531 individuals this year selected by colleagues in their disciplines to be honored by the association for “efforts toward advancing science applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished.”

The new Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue rosette pin (representing science and engineering, respectively) on February 20 at the 2010 AAAS Annual Meeting in San Diego. This year’s AAAS Fellows will be also announced in the December 18 issue of the journal Science.

Cleveland, professor and chair of cellular and molecular medicine, was cited for “pioneering discoveries of the mechanisms of chromosome movement and cell cycle control and of neuronal cell death in inherited human neurodegenerative disease.”

Kay, professor and dean of the Division of Biological Sciences, was cited for “distinguished contributions to our understanding of the molecular architecture of circadian clocks in plants, fruit flies and mammals.”

Prather, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, was cited for “distinguished contributions to the field of atmospheric chemistry through the development and application of instrumentation to determine the impact of aerosols on atmospheric chemistry and climate.”

Rosenfeld, professor of medicine, was cited for “outstanding contributions to the field of molecular biology, particularly in the areas of hormone action and transcriptional control.”

Schmidt, professor of biology, was cited for “distinguished contributions to our understanding of the role of genes that regulate vegetative and reproductive development of maize and underlie its domestication from teosinte.”

Media Contact: Kim McDonald, 858-534-7572 or kmcdonald@ucsd.edu