Fellows
Each year, the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences honors distinguished individuals through its Fellows Program. The awardees constitute a select and prestigious community of scientists and science educators who are recognized for extraordinary scientific accomplishments and service to the science community and the public. Academy peers initiate the nomination process annualy and identify candidates for fellowship based upon their significant professional achievement in scientific research or science education. MAS Fellows then elect up to 25 fellows each year, who are appointed for life.
The Fellows program has grown to over 50 members in the past three years and is now poised to articulate its mission and spearhead its own initiatives and programs. The first annual MAS Fellows dinner is scheduled to occur in April of 2013. We look forward to seeing great things emerge from our Fellows progam in the very near future!
Dr. Alcock is the Director Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and a professor of Astronomy at Harvard University. He is most well-known for his research into compact halo objects and their effect on dark matter (Dr. Alcock's website).
Dr. Ambros is a Professor of Genetics at University of Massachusetts Medical School and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He discovered the first microRNA while studying a C. elegans gene (Dr. Ambros's website).
Dr. Ausubel is a Professor of Genetics Harvard University, and a Molecular Biologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is currently working on genomes in plants meant to defend themselves against pathogens (Dr. Ausubel's website).
Dr. Berggren settled in Woods Hole in 1965 where he has been a Senior Scientist since 1971. Dr. Berggren is involved in the analysis and interpretation of piston and gravity cores )Dr. Burrgren's website).
Dr. Bhatia is a Biomedical Engineer at the Brigham & Women's Hospital, holds 15 issued or pending patents and has worked in industry at Pfizer, Genetics Institute, ICI Pharmaceuticals, and Organogenesis. Her research is in the application of micro- and nano-technology to tissue repair and regeneration (Dr. Bhatia's website).
Dr. Campbell is a Professor of Physics at Boston University. He is known for his studies in nonlinear excitations and for his contribution to a newer field known as nonlinear science (Dr. Campbell's website).
Dr. Carpenter is the Director of the Imaging Platform at the Broad Institute. She also leads an interdisciplinary research group that develops and applies methods for extracting quantitative information from biological images in order to identify gene function (Dr. Carpenter's website).
Dr. Chow is the Ex. Dir. of Science Club for Girls, where she directs programs across MA, engaging over 650 youth from underrepresented groups in explorations of science and engineering in afterschool settings. Dr. Chow is a dedicated educator interested in humanistic science education and social justice (Dr. Chow's website).
Dr. Coffin is a Professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts and was the founding Director of the HIV Drug Resistance Program in the National Cancer Institute. He is a member of the NAS (Dr. Coffin's website).
Dr. Cohen is a Professor of Biology at Brandeis University, where she studies protein structure, dynamics, and assembly. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (Dr. Cohen's website).
Dr. Coleman is a chemist, a former United States Air Force officer, and a current NASA astronaut. She is a veteran of two Space Shuttle missions, and departed the International Space Station on May 23, 2011, as a crew member of Expedition 27 after logging 159 days in space (Dr. Coleman's website).
Dr. Dorit is an Associate Professor of Biology at Smith College. His research is concerned with experimental, retrospective and computational approaches to molecular evolution (Dr. Dorit's website).
Dr. Dresselhaus is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Physics at MIT and is noted for her work on raphite intercalation compounds and carbon nanostructures. Shas served as President of the American Physical Society and AAAS, and Treasurer of the NAS (Dr. Dresselhaus's website).
Ms. Duggan is the Director of Programs and Partnerships at the Center for STEM Education at Northeastern University. She is passionately involved in outreach for science and social justice (Ms. Duggan's website).
Dr. Epstein is Professor of Chemistry at Brandeis University, where he studies nonlinear chemical dynamics and pattern formation in reaction-diffusion systems. Dr. Epstein created a program to recruit and retain students from disadvantaged backgrounds in STEM disciplines (Dr. Epstein's website).
Dr. Forney is an Adjunct Professor of Electrical Engineering at MIT. His research interests include: coding and decoding for Euclidean-space channels, connections between coding theory and system theory, and quantum communications (Dr. Forney's website).
Dr. Gierasch is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She studies conformational analysis of peptides and proteins by NMR, CD and other spectroscopic methods, as well as biophysical approaches to protein folding and localization in vivo (Dr. Gierasch's website).
Dr. Gilbert is a Professor of Genetics at Harvard University. He won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1980 for developing a rapid DNA sequencing technology. He is co-founder of biotech companies Biogen and Myriad genetics and is a member of the Harvard Society of Fellows (Dr. Gilbert's website).
Dr. Glauber is a Professor of Physics at Harvard University. He won the 2005 Nobel Prize for Physics for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence (Dr. Glauber's website).
Dr. Glimcher is a Professor of Immunology at Harvard School of Public Health. Her laboratory uses biochemical and genetic approaches to elucidate the molecular pathways that regulate CD4 T helper cell development and activation (Dr. Glimcher's website).
Dr. Hall is a Professor of Biology at Brandeis University. He investigates the function of the nervous system in Drosophila employing genetic studies of behavior, augmented in by molecular manipulations of genes defined by certain behavioral mutations (Dr. Hall's website).
Dr. Hamilton is Professor of Physiology and Biophysics at Boston University School of Medicine, and Biomedical Engineering. His research provides molecular insights into diseases related to fatty acid metabolism and lipid accumulation, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (Dr. Hamilton's website).
Dr. Hartl is a Professor of Biology at Harvard University. His research focuses on the molecular basis of evolutionary changes in genes and genomes. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Dr. Hartl's website).
Dr. Hopkins is a Professor of Biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is also part of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, where she studies the identification of genes essential for early development in zebra fish (Dr. Hopkins' website).
Dr. Hu is a professor in Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering at Harvard University. She is the recipient of an NSF Distinguished Teaching Fellow and AAAS Lifetime Mentor Awards. Her research focuses on high-resolution fabrication of compound semiconductor electronic and optoelectronic devices (Dr. Hu's website).
Dr. King is a Professor of Genetics at MIT. His research is focused on protein folding, misfolding and human disease (Dr. King's website). Dr. King serves on the MAS Board of Directors.
Dr. Kopell is a Professor of Mathematics at Boston University and is currently the Co-director of the Center for Biodynamics. Her research focuses on the dynamics of the nervous system, especially rhythmic behavior in networks of neurons (Dr. Kopell's website).
Dr. Lander is a Professor and Founding Director of the Broad Institute. Over the past 15 years, Lander and his colleagues have created many of the key tools of human genomics and have applied these tools to pioneer new ways to understand the basis of diseases (Dr. Lander's website).
Dr. Larson is a Professor of Engineering at MIT. He is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is the founding Director of Learning International Networks Consortium, and recently started their largest initiative, BLOSSOMS, Blended Learning Open Source Science or Math Studies (Dr. Larson's website).
Dr. Leeman is a Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Boston University. Her work focuses on the two peptides, substance P (SP) and neurotensin, which were isolated and chemically defined in this laboratory (Dr. Leeman's website).
Dr. Lindquist is a Professor of Biology at MIT, an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. She studies the impact of protein conformational changes on diverse processes in cellular and organismal biology (Dr. Lindquist website).
Dr. Marder joined the faculty at Brandeis in 1978, and has been instrumental in the establishment of undergraduate and graduate programs in Neuroscience. Her work focuses on understanding how stability in networks arises despite ongoing channel and receptor turnover and modulation (Dr. Marder's website).
Dr. Margulis (March 5, 1938 - November 22, 2011) was a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1983 and received the Presidential Medal of Science in 1999.
Ms. Mayrand is the Associate Director of the Office of Science Education at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and serves as director of the Central Massachusetts Partnerships Advancing Learning of Mathematics and Science (PALMS).
Dr. McCarthy is a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is an international leader in two major subfields of linguistics, phonology and morphology, and their interaction (Dr. McCarthy's website).
Dr. Mello is a Professor of Molecular Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He was awarded The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries related to RNA interference. He is investigating how embryonic cells differentiate and communicate during development (Dr. Mellow's website).
Dr. Meselson is a Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard University. He studies the evolution of asexuality in bdelloid rotifers and described the "Meselson effect", when two alleles in an asexual organism evolve independently, producing what are essentially two genomes in one organism (Dr. Meselson's website).
Dr. Miaoulis is the President and Director of the Museum of Science, Boston. He has committed himself to increasing the number of female students and faculty and created the Center for Engineering Educational Outreach and the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program while on the faculty of Tufts (Dr. Miaoulis's website).
Dr. Nye, scientist, engineer, comedian, author, and inventor, and MAS Fellow is a man with a mission: to help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work (Dr. Nye's website).
Dr. Pardue is the Boris Magasanik Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Pardue's research is on the genetic, biochemical, and cytological studies of structural elements of chromosomes, with an emphasis on telomeres, heterochromatin, and transposable elements (Dr. Pardue's website).
Dr. Partee is a Distinguished University Professor Emerita of Linguistics and Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research and teaching interests center on formal semantics and its connections with syntax, pragmatics, and logic (Dr. Partee's website).
Dr. Pilbeam is a Henry Ford II Professor of Social Sciences at Harvard University. He is also a curator at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Dr. Pilbeam is interested in a wide range of topics involving human and primate evolution (Dr Pilbeam's website).
Mr. Ricardi is a retired environmental police officer that operates the Massachusetts Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center from his home in Conway, Massachusetts. As a bird of prey rehabilitator, Tom works with hawks, owls and eagles.
Dr. Riley is a Professor in the Department of Biology at University of Massachusetts Amherst where she develops novel antimicrobials and studies the evolution of antibiotic resistance.. She created the Massachusetts Academy of Sciences in 2008 and currently serves as its President (Dr. Riley's website).
Mr. Ris has been President and CEO, of the New England Aquarium since 2005. He is a member of the Environmental Business Council of New England and was a founding member of the Professionals' Coalition for Nuclear Arms Control (Mr. Ris's website).
Dr. Rokop is the Director of the Educational Outreach Program at the Broad Institute where she oversees high school class visits, summer internships for rising high school seniors, teacher forums and research projects that enable high school students to spend Saturday's in a Broad Laboratory (Dr. Rokop's website).
Dr. Sassanfar is on the Faculty of the Department of Biology at MIT and the Director of the Massachusetts Junior Academy of Sciences. Dr. Sassanfar has extensive research experience in both academia and industry, where she spent four years working on the discovery of novel antimicrobial targets (Dr. Sassanfar website).
Ms. Schelkin is Co-Founder and President of the DOME (Diversity and Outreach in Math and Engineering) Foundation. She works to enhance the exposure, awareness and understanding of the STEM fields and associated career paths for students from underrepresented populations (DOME website).
Dr. Schrock is a Professor of Chemistry at MIT. In 2005 he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Chauvin and Grubbs for his discovery of "high oxidation state carbene" (alkylidene complexes) by alpha hydrogen abstraction in high oxidation state metal alkyl complexes (Dr. Schrock's website).
Dr. Stanley is a Professor at Boston University and the Director of the Center for Polymer Sciences, where he studies statistical physics, from basic to applied. Much of his work is highly interdisciplinary, ranging from Alzheimer disease to econophysics---a neologism that he coined (Dr. Stanley's website).
Dr. Trunfio is Director of the Science Education Group at the Center for Polymer Studies at Boston University. Since 1990 he has focused on developing curricula and programs aimed at bridging the gap between the practice of interdisciplinary science research and the teaching of science (Dr. Trunfio's website).
Dr. Turner II is a Professor of Environment and Society and Director, Graduate School of Geography, at Clark University. His research focuses on sustainability science, specifically on land change dynamics, ranging from the ancient Maya to contemporary deforestation in the tropics (Dr. Turner's website).
Dr. Watt is Professor of Biology at Stanford University and a Past President and Emeritus Trustee of the California Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on the development of evolutionary theory from mechanistic viewpoints (Dr. Watt's website).
Dr. Wilson is a Professor Emeritus and Honorary Curator of Entomology at Harvard University. He has received many of the world's leading prizes for his research in science, his environmental activism, and his writing (Dr. Wilson's website).
Dr. Windham-Bannister is the President and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, whose mission is to promote the life sciences within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (Dr. Windham-Bannister's website).
Mrs. Young was Science Department Chair for twenty-five of the forty three years she taught at North Quincy High School. Teaching high school biology and chemistry comprised her teaching career, but constructing and providing educational experiences that challenge and inspire the next generation of teachers and students has been her passion.
Dr. Zahopoulos is founder and Executive Director of Northeastern University's Center for STEM Education. He is also the Director of Project RE-SEED (Retirees Enhancing Science Education through Experiments and Demonstrations) (Dr. Zahopoulos's website).
Dr. Zuber is a Professor of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT. Her research interests include theoretical modeling of geophysical processes and development and implementation of spacecraft laser and radio tracking experiments (Dr. Zuber's website).
