2020 AAAS Fellows at UW–Madison apply scholarship to science, policy

This year, six University of Wisconsin­–Madison scholars have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The honor, dating back to 1874, is bestowed annually on members of AAAS who are nominated by their peers and recognized for their efforts to advance science and society. This year, 489 members were named AAAS Fellows. Each is expected to maintain the highest standards of scientific integrity and professional ethics.

New fellows will be formally announced in the journal Science on Nov. 27 and, on Feb. 13, 2021, they will be inducted during a virtual Fellows Forum ceremony.

AAAS lists this year’s fellows from UW–Madison and what led to their election:

Laura Albert, professor of industrial and systems engineering, for distinguished contributions to the application of operations research methodologies to public policy, and for communicating her research to the public.

Alta Charo, Warren P. Knowles Professor of Law and Bioethics, for her influential work on bioethics and public policy, including outstanding scholarship incorporating ideas and research from philosophy, law, biology and the social and behavioral sciences.

Patricia Kiley, professor and chair of biomolecular chemistry, for distinguished contributions to understanding mechanisms that regulate E. coli’s lifestyle in different oxygen environments, specifically how transcription factors exploit iron-sulfur metal centers for oxygen responses.

William Reznikoff (emeritus; now at Marine Biological Laboratory), Evelyn Mercer Professor of Biochemistry, for deciphering the molecular details of transposition by studying a model bacterial transposon.

William Tracy, professor of agronomy and Clif Bar and Organic Valley Chair in Plant Breeding for Organic Agriculture, for his role as a national leader in plant breeding and germplasm, and for training a generation of breeders while also communicating breeding’s importance to the public.

Ellen Zweibel, W.L. Kraushaar Professor of Astronomy and Physics, for distinguished contributions to quantify the role of magnetic fields in shaping the cosmos on all scales.