3 Professors Named American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows

CINCINNATI—Three faculty members at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have been awarded the distinction of Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Elected to the honor are: Sandra Degen, PhD, associate chair for academic affairs in the College of Medicine’s pediatrics department and interim chair of the molecular genetics, biochemistry and microbiology department; Vernon Scarborough, PhD; Distinguished University Research Professor and Charles Phelps Taft Professor in Anthropology; and Joseph Caruso, PhD, professor of chemistry.

AAAS fellowship status is given annually to distinguished individuals by society members and their peers. Degen, Scarborough and Caruso are among 539 AAAS members elected this year for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. UC now has 20 faculty members who are AAAS Fellows—11 from the College of Medicine.

Honorees will receive official certificates and pins Feb. 18, 2012, at the Fellows Forum during the AAAS Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Degen is being honored for research on blood protein and coagulation and for service as administrator during seven years as UC’s vice president for research, as a mentor of faculty to high school students and an advocate of gender equity. A member of the faculty and staff of the College of Medicine and Cincinnati Children's Research Foundation since 1985, Degen served as UC’s vice president for research from September 2004 to July 2011. During her tenure, research funding for the university and its affiliates increased from $319 million to more than $443 million in fiscal year 2010.  Her honors and awards include being selected as a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences.

"I am honored to be elected an AAAS Fellow,” said Degen, "especially since it is in recognition of my leadership in the area of research, my research career, my mentoring of faculty and my support of undergraduates to pursue careers in research.”

Scarborough is being honored for revolutionizing the view of the ancient Maya Lowlands by his landscape and water management studies set in a world comparative context. By examining ancient engineered water systems and landscapes in Belize, Guatemala and elsewhere around the world, he addresses societal sustainability issues from a comparative ecological perspective. To achieve this end, he has emphasized cross-disciplinary exchange and international fieldwork. A member of the UC faculty since 1988, he was awarded UC’s Rieveschl Award for Creative and Scholarly Works in 2004.

"I greatly appreciate this honor, as the AAAS is one of the principal vehicles in the world for publishing top-tier science,” said Scarborough.

Caruso is being honored for distinguished contributions to the fields of trace metal analysis, speciation and metallomics (the study of metals and metal species in biological systems) and for past service as head of the chemistry department at UC and dean of the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences. A member of the UC faculty since 1968, he is currently director of the University of Cincinnati/Agilent Technologies Metallomics Center of the Americas. Caruso was honored by Eastern Michigan University with its 1990 Distinguished Alumni Award and by the Society of Applied Spectroscopy with its Distinguished Service Award in 2006.

"The AAAS Fellows are a highly recognized group of scientists, and I am excited to be included among them,” said Caruso. 

The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and publishes the journal Science. Founded in 1848, the society includes more than 260 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. A nonprofit organization, the society is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs and science education.