3 Faculty Become AAAS Fellows

By GAIL GALLESSICH

Three faculty members of UC Santa Barbara have been elected Fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). They are S. James Allen in physics, David A. Low in biology, and Phillip L. Walker in anthropology. Election as a Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

The UCSB faculty members are among 348 AAAS members who were elected Fellows this year for their efforts to advance science or applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished. New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin next February at the Fellows Forum during the 2004 AAAS annual meeting in Seattle.

In the physics section, S. James Allen was elected for excellent contributions using terahertz excitation coupled with transport measurements to understand semiconductor nanostructures, hot-electron dynamics, magnetism, metal physics, and high temperature superconductivity. Allen, currently chair of the Physics Department, received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from MIT in 1965. He was with Bell Labs, then Bellcor, and served as adjunct professor at Northeastern University and Princeton University. He joined the faculty at UCSB in 1991 as a professor and the director of the Quantum Institute.

In the biology section, David A. Low was elected a Fellow for distinguished contributions to the field of genetic regulation, particularly for studies on the epigenetic regulation of gene expression by DNA methylation in bacteria. Low completed his Ph.D. in 1982 at UC Irvine. He did postdoctoral work at Stanford University and then served as professor for 13 years at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center before joining UCSB in 1998.

In the anthropology section, Phillip L. Walker was elected for distinguished contributions to biological anthropology, providing leadership in the development of bioarchaeology, and to the understanding of the history of human health. Walker received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1973 and joined UCSB in 1974.

The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Currently, members can be considered for the rank of Fellow if nominated by steering groups from the association's 24 sections, or by any three Fellows who are current AAAS members (so long as two of the three sponsors are not affiliated with the nominee's institution), or by the AAAS chief executive officer.