Georgia Tech’s dean of the College of Engineering and five other faculty members have been awarded the distinction of Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). 

AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society, and the election as a Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers. 

Five of the new Fellows at Georgia Tech hail from the College of Engineering and one is on the faculty in the College of Sciences’ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

The new Fellows at Georgia Tech are:

Gilda A. Barabino, associate chair for graduate studies and professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory, was honored “for distinguished contributions to tissue engineering research and education, as well as for enhancing the participation of underrepresented groups in scientific fields.”

Stephen P. DeWeerth, professor of biomedical engineering at the Coulter Department, earned the distinction “for contributions in the field of neuroengineering, particularly for the real-time modeling of sensorimotor systems and for the development of neural interfacing technology.”

Don P. Giddens, dean of the College of Engineering and biomedical engineering professor in the Coulter Department, was honored “for significant contributions to our understanding of the role of hemodynamics in cardiovascular pathobiology and for leadership of engineering education nationally.”

Joseph W. Perry, professor of physical, polymer and materials chemistry and optical science, was honored “for distinguished contribution to the understanding, development and application of organic materials for third-order nonlinear optics.”

Valerie Thomas, an associate professor of natural systems with a joint appointment in Georgia Tech’s H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the School of Public Policy in the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, was honored “for sustained commitment to combining science policy with innovative interdisciplinary research in industrial ecology.”

Zhuomin Zhang, professor of mechanical engineering, was awarded the Fellow distinction “for advancing thermal radiation research and its applications in temperature measurement, promoting education in nano- and micro-scale heat transfer and serving professional societies.”

Last month AAAS honored 503 members with the award in recognition of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. New Fellows will be honored from 8 to 10 a.m. on Feb. 19 at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2011 AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.