In a tradition that started in 1874, the AAAS Council annually elects AAAS Fellows: AAAS members who have made scientifically or socially distinguished efforts on the behalf of science and in service to society. It is not uncommon for AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellowships (STPF) fellows to be among this annual election of distinguished scholars.
AAAS Fellows are highly distinguished scientists, engineers, and innovators who have been recognized for their achievements across diverse disciplines: research, administration, academia, industry, government, communications, interpreting science to the public, to name a few. With this lifetime honor, all AAAS Fellows are expected to meet commonly held standards of professional ethics and scientific integrity. Five hundred and five scientists, engineers, and innovators were elected in each of AAAS’ 24 Sections, Sections are made of AAAS members who provide AAAS leadership with expertise on issues of importance within the scientific community. The 2022 class of AAAS Fellows was announced this past January. View the full list here.
Among those honored are eight STPF alumni fellows:
Judith Auerbach
1988-89 Legislative Branch Fellow sponsored by Society for Research in Child Development
Section on Social, Economic & Political Sciences
Navigating the nexus of science and policy with a focus on HIV, sociologist Auerbach focuses on the relationship between scientific knowledge and social research, community engagement in research, and attention to women in the HIV response. Auerbach has taught and published in the areas of HIV/AIDS, social science, public policy, sex, and gender.
Gillian Bowser
2011-12 STPF Executive Branch Fellow, U.S. Department of State
Section on Societal Impacts of Science & Engineering
At Colorado State University, Bowser emphasizes sustainability, citizen-scientist engagement, and encouraging students from underrepresented backgrounds to study science. Bowser’s work focuses on ecological indicators of climate change and linkages between climate change and local communities.
Ali Douraghy
2010-11 Executive Branch Fellow, USAID
2011-12 Executive Branch Fellow, USAID
2012-14 Executive Branch Fellow, USAID – Indonesia Mission
Section on Societal Impacts of Science & Engineering
Biomedical physicist Douraghy is Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Science & Innovation at the U.S. Department of Energy. During his time as a STPF fellow, he co-led the Pakistan-U.S. S&T Cooperation Program.
Deborah Illman
1988-89 Executive Branch Fellow, US Agency for International Development (USAID)
Section on General Interest in Science & Engineering
Illman is a Founding Editor of a regional news magazine, Northwest Science & Technology, which chronicles developments in fields of science, engineering, and natural history in the greater Northwest region. Illman’s recent research focuses on science communication and media coverage of science and technology.
Robert E. Kopp
2009-11 Executive Branch Fellow, U.S. Department of Energy
Section on Geology and Geography
Kopp is a climate and sea-level scientist and is currently the climate policy scholar at Rutgers University’s Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences and Rutgers Institute of Earth, Ocean & Atmospheric Sciences. Kopp’s research focuses on understanding the uncertainties of climate change and sea-level change, the relationship between physical climate change and the economy, and the use of climate risk information.
Kristin M. Omberg
1998-99 Legislative Branch Fellow sponsored by American Chemical Society
Section on Societal Impacts of Science & Engineering
As the Group Leader of Chemical and Biological Signatures at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Omberg leads an interdisciplinary team group of biologists, chemists, and engineers solving challenges related to chemical and biological detection and forensics. Omberg’s work focuses on developing science and technology solutions that can be deployed in operational environments or used to inform policy decisions.
Kate Stoll
2011-13 Executive Branch Fellow, National Science Foundation
2013-14 Legislative Branch Fellow sponsored by American Chemical Society
Section on Societal Impacts of Science & Engineering
Stoll is a project director at the AAAS Center for Scientific Evidence in Public Issues (AAAS EPI Center) which delivers clear and actionable scientific evidence to policymakers and decisionmakers, so they can then integrate that evidence into their decision-making process.
Jennifer Wiseman
2001-02 Legislative Branch Fellow sponsored by American Physical Society
Section on Physics
The Director-Emeritus of the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religions (DoSER), Wiseman is also a senior astrophysicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where she is the senior project scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope. Wiseman has an interest in national science policy and is also a public speaker and author.
