The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has awarded four NYU professors the distinction of AAAS Fellow: Jane Carlton, a professor of biology; Nicholas Geacintov, a professor of chemistry; Laurence Maloney, a professor of psychology and neural science; and Xiao-Jing Wang, a professor of neural science.

Four NYU Faculty Named American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has awarded four NYU professors the distinction of AAAS Fellow: Jane Carlton, a professor of biology; Nicholas Geacintov, a professor of chemistry; Laurence Maloney, a professor of psychology and neural science; and Xiao-Jing Wang, a professor of neural science. Election as a fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has awarded four New York University professors the distinction of AAAS Fellow: Jane Carlton, a professor of biology; Nicholas Geacintov, a professor of chemistry; Laurence Maloney, a professor of psychology and neural science; and Xiao-Jing Wang, a professor of neural science. Election as a fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

Carlton, who has appointments in NYU’s Department of Biology and in the NYU School of Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, was recognized for “distinguished contributions to the field of genomics, particularly for the sequencing and analysis of eukaryotic parasites, which have significant impacts on human health.” Carlton, working in NYU’s Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, and her colleagues have recently sequenced human and monkey malaria genomes—research that provides an initial roadmap in the development of pharmaceuticals and vaccines to combat malaria.

Geacintov, a professor in the Department of Chemistry, was selected for “distinguished contributions to the field of chemical carcinogenesis and elucidation of structural features of DNA lesions that govern their removal by DNA repair mechanisms.” Much of his scholarship in the field of chemical toxicology has centered on carcinogens in fossil fuel combustion and DNA repair. Geacintov’s research also includes the cancer-causing effects of estrogens used in hormone replacement therapy. Geacintov is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine at NYU School of Medicine.

Maloney, who holds appointments in the Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, was chosen for “distinguished contributions to studies of visual perception, motor control, and decision making using quantitative models that reveal the complexity and elegance of human performance.” His findings from a recent study shed new light on decisions we make that pertain to risk: even when we know the likelihood of certain outcomes based on statistical evidence or our own experiences, we still make decisions at odds with the probability of their occurrence.

Wang, who was recently named provost of NYU Shanghai, joined NYU’s Center for Neural Science from Yale University. He was recognized by AAAS for “distinguished contributions to our understanding of the neural processes underlying short-term memory and decision-making, and for outstanding contributions to theoretical neuroscience in general.”

This year, 702 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. New Fellows will be honored in February, 2013 at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston, Mass.

EDITOR’S NOTE:
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (www.sciencemag.org) as well as Science Translational Medicine (www.sciencetranslationalmedicine.org) and Science Signaling (www.sciencesignaling.org). AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.

Founded in 1831, NYU is one of the world’s foremost research universities and is a member of the selective Association of American Universities. The first Global Network University, NYU has degree-granting university campuses in New York and Abu Dhabi, and has announced a third in Shanghai; has a dozen other global academic sites, including London, Paris, Florence, Tel Aviv, Buenos Aires, and Accra; and sends more students to study abroad than any other U.S. college or university. Through its numerous schools and colleges, NYU conducts research and provides education in the arts and sciences, law, medicine, business, dentistry, education, nursing, the cinematic and performing arts, music and studio arts, public administration, social work, and continuing and professional studies, among other areas.

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