Two University of Colorado at Boulder faculty members have been elected Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science for 1998.
Graduate School Dean and Associate Vice Chancellor for Research Carol Lynch, also a faculty member in the environmental, population and organismic biology department, was honored for her expertise in evolutionary genetics and service to the national science and higher education communities. Lynch, also a fellow of CU-Boulder's Institute for Behavioral Genetics, has focused her research on the basis of evolutionary adaptation and the brain mechanisms underlying adaptive behaviors.
Lynch has worked primarily on the adaptation of mice to cold, with emphasis on the animals' nest-building strategies. Different genetic lines of mice that have been selectively bred over many generations for their varying nest-building techniques also show differences in body weight, litter size, circadian rhythms, and brain chemistry and anatomy.
Lynch has been a member of a task force representing the major scientific associations dealing with research in evolutionary biology that has developed a report about the future of such research and its importance to science and society. She also has served in a variety of advisory capacities to the National Science Foundation and several national accrediting boards for higher education.
Lynch currently is president of the Western Association of Graduate Schools and is on the executive committee of the Council of Graduate Schools and the Council of Research Policy and Graduate School Education of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges.
Professor Todd Gleeson, also of EPO biology, was elected a AAAS fellow for his research in animal physiology, including how animal locomotor behaviors influence the metabolic costs and consequences of vigorous activity. Gleeson also is associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at CU-Boulder.
Founded in 1848, AAAS represents the world's largest federation of scientists and has more than 142,000 individual members. AAAS members nominated for the rank of fellow are elected by the AAAS Council, the policy-making board of the association.
A total of 283 members across the nation were named AAAS fellows in 1998. The fellows were singled out for their work on behalf of the advancement of science, which are either scientifically or socially distinguished.
Lynch and Gleeson will be presented with certificates at a special ceremony during the annual AAAS meeting in Anaheim, Calif., on Jan. 23.