Three University of Chicago faculty members have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society.
Profs. Tatyana Golovkina, Melina Hale and Margaret Beale Spencer were among this year’s 443 fellows announced as AAAS members on Nov. 26, honoring their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science and its applications.
Tatyana Golovkina is a professor in the Department of Microbiology.
A microbiologist, geneticist and immunologist, she focuses her research on the immune system and both genetic and epigenetic controls on viral infections.
Her AAAS award notes that she was elected for “distinguished contributions to the field of resistance and susceptibility to retroviruses using mouse genetics to identify novel genes and the role of the microbiome.”
Melina Hale is the William Rainey Harper Professor in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy and the College and a Vice Provost at the University of Chicago.
Her research integrates neuroscience and biomechanics to study how the nervous system controls movement and how that movement is modulated with sensory input from an organism’s physical environment.
Her AAAS award notes that she was elected for “contributions to biomechanics and sensorimotor integration, particularly for innovative studies of neural circuits, proprioception and mechanosensation, as integrated in vertebrate locomotion and behavior.”
Margaret Beale Spencer is the Marshall Field IV Professor of Urban Education in the Department of Comparative Human Development.
Spencer, PhD’76, has spent her academic career creating theoretical and empirical representational spaces for the experiences of marginalized people within psychology’s view of human development.
Her AAAS award notes she was elected “for lifelong and seminal contributions to the study of ethnicity, gender, and race on youth and adolescent development.”
Founded in 1848, the AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and includes 254 affiliated societies and academies of science. It also publishes the journal Science.
The new fellows will receive their honors on Feb. 15, 2020 during the AAAS annual meeting in Seattle, Washington.
—Prof. Kunle Odunsi
