Three BU Profs Named AAAS Fellows
What do the hippocampus, global warming, and autism have in common? They are the research fields of three BU professors — Howard Eichenbaum, Helen Tager-Flusberg, and Maureen Raymo — who were recently named American Academy for the Advancement of Science Fellows for their groundbreaking work in advancing their fields and promoting scientific innovation.
The AAAS, the world’s largest scientific society and publisher of the journal Science, named 471 of its members Fellows in October because of their efforts to advance science or its applications. An international nonprofit founded in 1848, AAAS sponsors initiatives in science policy and education.
Nominations for Fellows can be made by the steering groups of the organization’s 24 sections, which represent different disciplines, by any three Fellows who are current AAAS members, as long as two of the three are not affiliated with the nominee’s institution, or by the AAAS chief executive officer.
“It’s particularly pleasing that it comes from such a broad range of people,” says Eichenbaum, a College of Arts and Sciences professor of psychology and director of BU’s new Center for Neuroscience. Eichenbaum has contributed to the understanding of the role of the hippocampus in learning and memory.
Tager-Flusberg, a School of Medicine professor of anatomy and neurobiology, also researches the brain, but her focus is on the language and social-cognitive impairments related to autism. She received the AAAS distinction for groundbreaking work on the nature of autism.
Raymo, a CAS professor of earth sciences, studies the history and causes of climate change in the Earth’s past and has advanced understanding of the marine carbonate record, the global carbon cycle, and climate change.
New Fellows will receive an official certificate and a rosette pin at the 2008 annual AAAS meeting in February in Boston.
Rebecca McNamara can be reached at ramc@bu.edu.