PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Five members of the Brown University faculty have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Election as a fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers, who nominate fellows for election by the AAAS Council, the association’s policymaking body.
The AAAS honored 503 members as fellows this year in recognition of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. The new fellows will be officially welcomed on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2011, at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Their election was announced today by the AAAS and will appear in the “AAAS News & Notes” section of the journal Science on Jan. 28, 2011.
The AAAS has elected fellows since 1874.
Professor of Biology
Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry
Gary Wessel joined the Brown faculty in 1990. His research focuses on the molecular biology of the egg and fertility in a variety of species. The author of more than 120 peer-reviewed publications, including a recent study providing new insight into gene expression in eggs, Wessel also teaches undergraduates about topics including synthetic biology.
Wessel earned his Ph.D. at Duke University in developmental biology in 1986. Before joining the Brown faculty, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
The AAAS honored Wessel “for his contributions to the molecular understanding of events regulating cellular development.”