UChicago scientists Andrew Davis and Ruth Anne Eatock were named 2018 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Nov. 27 for their ‘distinguished contributions’ to their respective fields of planetary science and neuroscience.
Their work has changed our understanding of the early solar system and helped us understand how the inner ear relays information to the brain, allowing us to see and orient ourselves in the world. Davis and Eatock were among this year’s 416 fellows elected as AAAS members for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science and its applications.
Andrew Davis is a professor in the Department of Geophysical Sciences, and served as chair of the department from 2015 to 2018. His studies revolve around examining meteorites and space dust that have been carried to Earth by spacecraft or naturally for clues about the earliest history of the solar system and how elements are made in stars.
His AAAS award notes that he was elected for “contributions to planetary sciences, from evolution of early solar system materials to short-lived radionuclides in early solar system and developing resonance ionization mass spectrometry.”
Ruth Anne Eatock is a professor in the Department of Neurobiology. Her research focuses on understanding how information from receptors in the inner ear is translated to the brain, shaping the sensory information required for stable gaze and orientation as one moves through the world.
Her AAAS award says that she was elected for “distinguished contributions to the field of sensory neuroscience, particularly for biophysical analysis of signaling in the inner ear.”
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes 254 affiliated societies and academies of science.
The new fellows will receive their honors on Feb. 16, 2019 during the AAAS annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
—Prof. Jacqueline Stewart
