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Six From Duke Elected Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Fellows are recognized for their distinguished scientific and social contributions

(L-R from top) Banks, Brinson, Calakos, Farahany, Lisberger, Permar
(L-R from top) Banks, Brinson, Calakos, Farahany, Lisberger, Permar

Six members of the Duke faculty have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as a AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers. They are among 489 new fellows elected this year.

The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. A virtual induction ceremony for the new fellows in the organization’s 24 sections will be held on Feb. 13, 2021.

Engineering

L. Catherine Brinson, Sharon C. and Harold L. Yoh III Distinguished Professor and Donald M., Alstadt Chair of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science: For distinguished contributions to the field of mechanics of materials, particularly for hierarchical characterization and modeling of nanostructured polymers and shape memory alloys.

Medical Sciences

Sallie R. Permar, Wilburt C. Davison Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and member of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute: For distinguished contributions to the prevention and treatment of neonatal viral infections, particularly for identification of protective immune responses that guide maternal/infant vaccine development. (After nine years at Duke, Dr. Permar will be leaving at the end of this month to become chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine and pediatrician-in-chief at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Komansky Children’s Hospital.)

Neuroscience

Nicole Calakos, Lincoln Financial Group Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology: For pioneering work in optogenetic approaches, and substantial contributions in the area of synaptic plasticity with a focus on striatal circuity of the basal ganglia. 

Nita A. Farahany, Robinson O. Everett Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society: For distinguished contributions to the field of neuroethics, enabling responsible and equitable development and implementation of new knowledge and technologies in neuroscience.

Stephen G. Lisberger, George Barth Geller Distinguished Professor for research and Chair in Neurobiology: For fundamental contributions to understanding the organization and function of brain mechanisms that underlie sensorimotor learning, using visually-driven eye movements as a model system.

Statistics

David L. Banks, Professor of the Practice of Statistical Science, Director of the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI), President of the International Society for Business and Industrial Statistics: For leadership at the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute, research on risk analysis, and editorial service.