Janelia Group Leader Harald Hess and seven other Howard Hughes Medical Institute scientists 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.

This year, AAAS has awarded 391 members this honor in recognition of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. New Fellows will be recognized on Saturday, February 18 at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2017 AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston, Mass.

The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Currently, members can be considered for the rank of Fellow if nominated by the steering groups of the Association’s 24 sections, or by any three Fellows who are current AAAS members (as long as two of the three sponsors are not affiliated with the nominee’s institution), or by the AAAS chief executive officer. Fellows must have been continuous members of AAAS for four years by the end of the calendar year in which they are elected.

Each steering group reviews the nominations of individuals within its respective section and a final list is forwarded to the AAAS Council, which votes on the aggregate list. The Council is the policymaking body of the Association, chaired by the AAAS president, and consisting of the members of the board of directors, the retiring section chairs, delegates from each electorate and each regional division, and two delegates from the National Association of Academies of Science. The list of current AAAS fellows is available online.

HHMI’s newly elected AAAS Fellows:

Michael Elowitz (HHMI Investigator), California Institute of Technology

Irving Epstein (HHMI Professor), Brandeis University

Harald Hess (Group Leader), Janelia Research Campus

Neil Hunter (HHMI Investigator), University of California, Davis

Krishna Niyogi (HHMI-GBMF Investigator), University of California, Berkeley

Ardem Patapoutian (HHMI Investigator), Scripps Research Institute

Clifton Poodry (Senior Science Education Fellow), Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Amita Sehgal (HHMI Investigator), University of Pennsylvania