Rice professors named AAAS fellows

Ma, Nordlander, Richards-Kortum and Si honored for scientific achievements

BY MIKE WILLIAMS
Rice News staff

Four Rice University professors have been named 2008 fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, or “Triple A-S” (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.

Jianpeng Ma, Peter Nordlander, Rebecca Richards-Kortum and Qimiao Si were among 486 members honored this year for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

Those who can attend will be presented official certificates and gold-and-blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pins at the annual AAAS meeting in Chicago Feb. 14.

Ma, a professor in bioengineering who also holds a professorship at Baylor College of Medicine, was selected for his work in intermediated-resolution structural biology, particularly for developing powerful methods to analyze the ways proteins flex and bend, allowing scientists to scrutinize the active sites of proteins implicated in cancer and other diseases.

”It is a tremendous honor to me, and I hope it also brings honor to Rice,” said Ma, adding that he ”will work harder in the future to live up to the expectation.” In 2004, Ma won the Welch Foundation’s prestigious Norman Hackerman Award for Chemical Research, named for the former Rice president.

Nordlander, a professor of physics and astronomy and in electrical and computer engineering, was honored for contributions to theoretical physical chemistry, particularly for the development of microscopic theories for chemisorption, electron-transfer processes and nanoparticle plasmonics.

”It is a very gratifying sign that my scientific contributions are recognized by my peers and colleagues,” said Nordlander, who joined Rice in 1989. Nordlander’s wife, Naomi Halas, the Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a professor of chemistry and of biomedical engineering, is also a AAAS fellow.

Richards-Kortum’s passion for helping the world solve its problems is clear. As director of Rice 360, the Stanley C. Moore Professor in the Department of Bioengineering is working hard to help developing nations achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals established by the United Nations.

The association also recognized her contributions to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer in women and for her theoretical modeling using lasers.

“AAAS has led international efforts to advance science and advocate for effective science education and policy, and it is a great privilege to be recognized as a fellow,” she said.

Qimiao Si, the Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Physics and Astronomy, was chosen for contributions to the theory of condensed matter, particularly the physics of quantum states in strongly correlated electron systems.

I’m very honored by this recognition from AAAS,” said Si. “It reflects, in a small way, the support Rice has provided to the area of quantum magnetism and quantum materials.” Si has also been elected a fellow of both the American Physical Society and the United Kingdom’s Institute of Physics.

The AAAS has been naming fellows since 1874. The new fellows join 17 other Rice faculty members who have been so honored.