USC professors named as AAAS fellows

Fifteen USC scientists have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), chosen by their peers in recognition of their efforts to advance science or its applications.

The AAAS — known colloquially as “Triple A-S” — is the world’s largest general scientific society and the publisher of the journal Science, which has a readership of 1 million. The nonprofit organization has been around since 1848.

“I am delighted that so many of our faculty have been recognized by their peers with election as AAAS fellows,” said Elizabeth Garrett, USC provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “This honor affirms the rich diversity and strengths of the scientific research that our faculty engage in on a daily basis and their commitment to create scholarship of consequence.”

Fellows are selected from among the society’s membership through nomination by a steering group within the association, by three fellows who are currently AAAS members or by the association’s CEO.

This year, 702 AAAS members will be made fellows. The 15 honorees from USC come from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC Davis School of Gerontology.

The USC fellows are:

Norman Arnheim, Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, and holder of the Ester Dornsife Chair in Biological Sciences, who has joint appointments at USC Dornsife and the Keck School. He was selected for contributions to molecular evolution and genome structure and to polymerase chain reaction development, including single cell/molecule methods and their application to studying recombination and mutation.

Susan Friedlander, professor of mathematics and director of the USC Center for Applied Mathematical Sciences at USC Dornsife. She was selected for contributions to applied mathematics and service to the American Mathematical Society for more than 30 years as a council member, officer and editor.

Margaret Gatz, professor and chair of psychology, professor of gerontology and preventive medicine, and director of the Education Core at the USC Alzheimer Disease Research Center. Gatz has joint appointments at USC Dornsife and USC Davis. She was selected for contributions to the study of mental health of older adults, particularly the analysis of Swedish twins to resolve gene-environment interactions in Alzheimer’s disease.

Thomas Jordan, University Professor, holder of the W.M. Keck Foundation Chair in Geological Sciences and professor of earth sciences at USC Dornsife, and director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, housed at USC Dornsife. He was selected for his discoveries about the Earth’s interior and for leadership in the development of earthquake-system science.

Anna Krylov, professor of chemistry at USC Dornsife. She was selected for contributions to research in developing robust electronic structure methods for open-shell and electronically excited species, as well as creative use of ab initio theory.

Daniel Lidar, professor of electrical engineering systems, chemistry, and physics and astronomy, who has joint appointments at USC Viterbi and USC Dornsife and is scientific director of the USC-Lockheed Martin Quantum Computing Center, co-founder of the USC Center for Quantum Information Science and Technology, and chair-elect of the American Physical Society Topical Group on Quantum Information. He was selected for contributions to the areas of quantum information science and quantum control.

Azad Madni, professor and director of USC Viterbi’s Systems Architecting and Engineering program. He was selected for his contributions to systems engineering and related research and education, particularly through modeling, simulation and gaming technologies.

John McArdle, professor of psychology and gerontology, who has joint appointments at USC Dornsife and USC Davis. He was selected for contributions to quantitative psychology, particularly for multivariate models of lifetime cognitive growth and decline, and for leadership in psychology research organizations.

Andreas Molisch, professor of electrical engineering, director of the Communication Sciences Institute and head of the Wireless Devices and Systems Group at USC Viterbi. He was selected for contributions to physical-layer wireless communications, particularly multiantenna and ultrawideband communication systems and propagation channels.

Susan Montgomery, professor of mathematics at USC Dornsife. She was selected for contributions to the field of algebra, as well as her active involvement with the American Mathematical Society.

Hanna Reisler, holder of the Lloyd Armstrong Jr. Chair for Science and Engineering and professor of chemistry at USC Dornsife. She was selected for contributions to the field of reaction dynamics, particularly for state-specific experiments combined with theoretical insights of detailed dynamics of small molecules.

Fengzhu Sun, professor of molecular and computational biology at USC Dornsife. He was selected for contributions to the field of computational biology and bioinformatics, particularly the development of computational and statistical methods to solve biological problems.

Mark Thompson, professor of chemistry, materials science and environmental studies, who has joint appointments at USC Dornsife and USC Viterbi. He was selected for contributions to the field of organic electronics, with a focus on organic LEDs and photovoltaics.

Arieh Warshel, Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at USC Dornsife. He was selected for contributions to quantitative modeling of the function of biological molecules and in particular for computational simulations of enzyme catalysis.

Alan Watts, professor of biological sciences, physiology and biophysics at USC Dornsife. He was selected for contributions to the understanding of how neural networks in the brain contribute to the dysregulation seen in stress, diabetes, obesity and eating disorders.

The new fellows will be presented with a certificate and a gold and blue rosette pin symbolizing science and engineering on Feb. 16 at the annual AAAS meeting in Boston.