Nine UCI researchers named AAAS fellows

Irvine, Calif., Nov. 24, 2020 — Nine University of California, Irvine researchers in areas ranging from neuroscience and environmental health to data science and plant ecology have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society.

A total of 489 AAAS members are being honored this year for their efforts to further science or its applications. A virtual induction ceremony for the new fellows will be held on Feb. 13, 2021. Each will receive an official certificate and a gold-and-blue rosette pin to commemorate their election.

“It is an honor to congratulate the nine UCI researchers named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science,” said Hal Stern, UCI interim provost and executive vice chancellor. “Representing a broad range of fields, these scholars exemplify academic excellence and bring great prestige to UCI.”

The honorees will be formally announced Nov. 27 in the AAAS News & Notes department of the journal Science. Those from UCI – and their AAAS sections and citations – are:

• Alan Goldin (neuroscience section), professor of microbiology & molecular genetics in the School of Medicine, for “distinguished contributions in understanding the function of sodium channels and their role in seizure susceptibility, and for promoting the development of physician-scientists.”
• Steve Goldstein (neuroscience section), vice chancellor for health affairs, as well as Distinguished Professor of pediatrics and physiology & biophysics in the School of Medicine and pharmaceutical sciences in the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, for “making outstanding contributions to the basic understanding of ion channels and their function, and for striving to create structural support and integration for biomedical science education and training.”
• Travis Huxman (biological sciences section), professor of ecology & evolutionary biology in the School of Biological Sciences, for “distinguished contributions to the field of physiological plant ecology, particularly functional trait evolution and influence in ecosystems under global change.”
• Thomas Lane (medical sciences section), Chancellor’s Professor of neurobiology & behavior in the School of Biological Sciences, for “distinguished research and service in the field of neurodegenerative disease, including multiple sclerosis, and in spinal cord repair.”
• Jennifer Martiny (biological sciences section), professor of ecology & evolutionary biology in the School of Biological Sciences, for “distinguished contributions to the fields of environmental microbiology and microbiome research, particularly using the study of microbial populations to understand climate change.”
• Oladele Ogunseitan(societal impacts of science and engineering section), University of California Presidential Chair and professor of population health & disease prevention in the Program in Public Health, for “distinguished contributions in studies using fundamental science to inform impacts of toxic components in manufacturing on human and environmental health.”
• Christopher Vanderwal (chemistry section), professor of chemistry in the School of Physical Sciences and pharmaceutical sciences in the School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, for “distinguished contributions to the field of organic chemistry, particularly for efficient chemical synthesis of bioactive alkaloids and chlorinated natural products.”
• Jack Xin (mathematics section), Chancellor’s Professor of mathematics in the School of Physical Sciences, for “outstanding contributions to research in applied mathematics and data science.”
• Clare Yu (physics section), professor of physics & astronomy in the School of Physical Sciences, for “contributions across condensed matter and biological physics, with special emphasis on disordered systems, intracellular transport, the physics of cancer and quantum computing.”

With this year’s cohort, UCI has 185 AAAS fellows.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu.

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About the American Association for the Advancement of Science: The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publishes the journals Science (www.sciencemag.org), Science Translational Medicine, Science Signaling, Science Advances, Science Immunology and Science Robotics. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world. The nonprofit was founded in 1848 and encompasses nearly 250 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. The AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, public engagement and more. For the latest research news, log on to EurekAlert! (www.eurekalert.org), the premier science news website, a service of the AAAS. For more information, visit www.aaas.org.