Rice’s Pasquali elected AAAS Fellow

Matteo Pasquali has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.

Matteo Pasquali

Pasquali, the A. J. Hartsook Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and a professor of chemistry and of materials science and nanoengineering, is one of 416 AAAS members elected by their peers to this year’s class of fellows for their distinguished efforts to advance science or scientific applications. Fewer than 1 percent of the association’s members are elected each year.

Since joining the Rice faculty in 2000, Pasquali’s research has focused on understanding soft matter, particularly carbon nanotubes and graphene single molecules and liquid crystals, and on the synthesis of macroscopic materials of carbon nanotubes and graphene.

Earlier this month, Pasquali and colleagues received a Hamill Innovation Award from Rice’s Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering. Thin, flexible and conductive nanotube fibers created in Pasquali’s lab could make good connectors to nerves and other electrically active tissues in the body.

Pasquali will be honored Feb. 16 at the Fellows Forum at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Founded in 1848, AAAS is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education and public engagement.