3 CALS Professors Among NC State Faculty Elected AAAS Fellows

Six NC State faculty members, including three with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.

Each year, the AAAS Council – the policymaking body of the society – elects members who have shown “scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.” Fellows are nominated by their peers and undergo an extensive review process.

AAAS has been awarding fellowships since 1874.

Here are the fellows as cited by AAAS:

• Robert R. Dunn, senior vice provost for university interdisciplinary programs and William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Applied Ecology, for distinguished contributions to the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology, particularly the ecology and evolution of daily human lives, and to the engagement of the public in these fields.
• Srinath Ekkad, professor and department head of mechanical and aerospace engineering, for distinguished contributions in the development of detailed heat transfer and combustion measurements, particularly inside gas turbines, for applications in power generation and aerospace propulsion.
• Charles Henderson, director of interdisciplinary STEM education and professor of physics, for distinguished contributions to discipline-based education research in physics, and on understanding processes leading to institution-wide instructional change in science education.
• Sung Woo Kim, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Animal Science, for distinguished contributions to the field of animal agriculture, particularly for the research of ideal protein for sows, intestinal health of young pigs, and functional amino acids for pigs.
• Heike Sederoff, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor of Plant and Microbial Biology, for distinguished contributions in the field of molecular plant biology, particularly sensory genomics in abiotic stress responses and metabolic engineering of crop plants to increase yield and resistance.
• Julie Swann, A. Doug Allison Distinguished Professor and department head in the Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, for distinguished contributions to health care systems engineering and humanitarian logistics, dedicated service to INFORMS, visionary leadership in academia, and outstanding efforts in communicating industrial engineering to the public.

AAAS named 449 fellows this year. They will be formally recognized in the journal Science in April. An induction ceremony will be held in Washington, D.C. on May 29, 2026.

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This post was originally published in NC State News.