The American Association for the Advancement of Sciences recently announced its group of 2020 AAAS Fellows, which included several Indian Americans and South Asian Americans.

Nearly 500 AAAS members earned the lifetime distinction, according to the associations news release.

AAAS Fellowsare elected each year by their peers serving on theCouncil of AAAS, the organizations member-run governing body. The title recognizes important contributions to STEM disciplines, including pioneering research, leadership within a given field, teaching and mentoring, fostering collaborations and advancing public understanding of science, the release said.

Among the Fellows were ShailajaK.Mani of theBaylor College of Medicinefor distinguished contributions to molecular and cellular neuroscience focused on molecular transcriptional regulation of steroid hormone receptors, signal transduction pathways and role of the microbiome; K. RajaReddyof Mississippi State Universityfor distinguished contributions to the field environmental plant physiology and agricultural systems modeling and applications; and SureshK.Alahariof Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine for distinguished contributions in cancer research and teaching, with a focus on signal transduction.

Additionally, SwathiArurof The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center for discovery of Dicer1 phosphorylation by RAS/ERK signaling in Caenorhabditis elegans and implications for human fertility and cancer metastasis;

HitenD.Madhaniof U.C. San Francisco for distinguished contributions to the fields of molecular biology and genetics, particularly for developing fungal systems to uncover mechanisms of chromatin modifications and RNA splicing; TuliMukhopadhyayof Indiana University for distinguished contributions to the field of virology, particularly in structure and assembly of arthropod-borne viruses; RamaNatarajanof the City of Hope National Medical Center for distinguished contributions to the field of diabetes and its vascular complications, particularly for studies showing the roles of epigenetics and non-coding RNAs; and P. HemachandraReddyof Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center For pioneering contributions to the fields of Alzheimer's disease and mitochondrial neurobiology, particularly in discovering key role of mitochondria in neurodegenerative diseases and their treatment, were among the newly elected members

Additional members elected included RohitBhargavaof the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaignfor pioneering contributions to chemical imaging, including infrared spectroscopic imaging theory, development of instrumentation, and its applications to realize all-digital cancer pathology; VishvaDixitof Genentech Inc.for pioneering studies defining the biochemical framework illuminating many of the key components of the cell death pathway; PrashantK.Jain of theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for distinguished contributions to the field of nanomaterial chemistry leading to atomistic understanding of artificial photosynthesis, multielectron transfer, catalysis and phase transitions; ManishChhowallaof the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) for distinguished contributions to the field of two-dimensional materials, particularly using phase engineering to study their electronic, electrocatalytic and energy storage properties; VistaspM.Karbhariof TheUniversity of Texas at Arlington for distinguished contributions to the field of composites in civil infrastructure particularly in low-cost processing, durability and damage tolerance, rehabilitation and multi-threat mitigation; and SanjayKumarof U.C. Berkeley for distinguished contributions to the field of bioengineering, particularly the development of biomaterial and single-cell technologies to investigate mechanobiological signaling in health and disease.

SudipK.Mazumderof the University of Illinois at Chicago,for distinguished contributions to the field of multi-scale control and analysis of power-electronic systems; UdayB.Palof Boston University,for pioneering work providing novel materials-based solutions in the field of green engineering as applied to energy conversion and primary production of materials; HrideshRajanof Iowa State University,for distinguished contributions to data driven science, particularly to modularity and modular reasoning in computer software and the development of the Boa language and infrastructure; SureshK.Bhargavaof RMIT University (Australia),for an exceptional contribution to the fields of industrial chemistry and technology, particularly for molecular engineering, catalysis and nanotechnology bringing innovative solutions to the industries; MunindarP.Singhof North Carolina State University, for distinguished contributions to the field of computer science, particularly to foundations of multiagent systems and their applications in service-oriented computing, sociotechnical systems and governance; AnujSrivastavaof Florida State University,for distinguished contributions to the field of statistical pattern recognition, particularly for development of differential geometric approaches to statistical shape analysis; and SenduraiManiof The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center,for demonstrating that cancer can make its own cancer stem cells and promote plasticity, resulting in metastasis and chemoresistance by activating latent embryonic epithelial-mesenchymal transition, were among the newly elected members.

Also named were D.NageshwarReddyof the Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (India),for pioneering work in gastroenterology, particularly advances in therapeutic pancreatic biliary endoscopy and innovations in transgastric endoscopic surgery; and for service to international gastroenterology societies; Debomoy (Deb)K.Lahiriof Indiana University, for distinguished contributions to the field of molecular and translational neuroscience, particularly roles of epigenetics and microRNA on neuronal physiology and eventually treating human neurodegenerative diseases; NiraoM.Shahof Stanford University,for exceptional contributions to the field of behavioral neuroscience, particularly the dissection of neural circuits and transcriptomics controlling social behaviors.

Also named Fellows were M.N.V.RaviKumarof Texas A&M University,for distinguished contributions to the field of drug delivery, particularly the next-generation polyesters and non-competitive targeting strategies are of profound significance to the human health; and BulbulChakrabortyof Brandeis University, for important theoretical contributions to diverse areas of condensed matter physics, particularly disordered systems including frustrated magnets and granular materials.

TalatShahnazRahmanUniversity of Central Florida, for distinguished contributions to computational and theoretical nanoscience, in predictions of chemical, vibrational, and structural properties of low-dimensional systems, together with diversity in STEM; NandiniTrivediof The Ohio State University,for her contributions to the theoretical understanding of quantum matter, characterized by innovative use of quantum Monte Carlo techniques and close experimental collaborations; RamananLaxminarayanof the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy/Princeton University,for distinguished contributions to the field of economic epidemiology, with particular reference to the spread and control of antimicrobial resistance; and SudiptoBanerjeeof UCLA,for innovative contributions to Bayesian methodology with focus on spatially indexed information, for high-impact applications, for educational and mentoring excellence, professional service and academic administration were named.

A virtual induction ceremony for the 489 newly elected Fellows will take place on Feb. 13, 2021, the Saturday following the AAAS Annual Meeting.

The honorees will receive official certificates and rosette pins in gold and blue, colors symbolizing science and engineering, by mail.

The tradition of electing AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Since then, the recognition has gone to thousands of distinguished scientists, such as inventor Thomas Edison, elected in 1878, sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois (1905), anthropologist Margaret Mead (1934), computer scientist Grace Hopper (1963), physicist Steven Chu (2000), and astronaut Ellen Ochoa (2012). The 2020 group contains members of each ofAAASs 24 sections, the release notes.

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Numerous Indian American STEM Researchers Named Fellows of American Association for the Advancement of Sciences - India West