Richard E. Waugh, professor and chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and James M. Farrar, professor of chemistry, have been elected Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society and the publisher of the journal Science.
Waugh and Farrar are among 539 new members being honored for their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.
The AAAS recognized Waugh for his "distinguished contributions to the study of cell and membrane mechanics and for leadership in biomedical engineering."
Waugh received a Ph.D. in bioengineering from Duke in 1977 and came to Rochester in 1980. His laboratory has historically been one of the leading facilities for investigating red blood cell mechanical properties and the stability of biological membranes.
Farrar was selected for his "distinguished contributions to gas phase ion chemistry, especially the dynamics of ion-molecule collisions and spectroscopy of mass-selected cluster ions." In the chemistry department he joins his colleagues, Robert K. Boeckman, Jr., William Jones, Thomas Krugh, Douglas Turner, and Richard Eisenberg as a Fellow of the AAAS.
Farrar received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1974 and joined the Rochester faculty two years later. Farrar and his research group focus on reaction dynamics and the photochemistry of ionic species.
New fellows of the AAAS will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Saturday, February 18 at the Fellows Forum, during the 2012 AAAS Annual Meeting in Vancouver, B.C.