News

Five Berkeley top scholars named AAAS fellows

November 24, 2020
By: Yasmin Anwar, Media Relations
Sanjay Gupta (top left), Spencer Klein, Margaret Conkey, Robert Ritchie (bottom left) and Peidong Yang are the five new Berkeley scholars elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Sanjay Kumar (top left), Spencer Klein, Margaret Conkey, Robert Ritchie (bottom left) and Peidong Yang are the five Berkeley scholars elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Five Berkeley scholars — four faculty members and one research scientist — have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the world’s largest scientific societies. The distinction was awarded this year to 489 scientists, engineers and innovators for their advancement of science and its applications.

The 2020 Berkeley fellows are:

Margaret Conkey, professor of anthropology.Margaret Conkey, a professor of anthropology. She is recognized for her theoretical work on the role of art in ancient evolution and gender studies in archeology. In addition to gender representations, Conkey studies early human visual culture, the prehistory of Europe, and archaeology and multimedia.

 

 

Spencer Klein, research physicist at UC Berkeley.Spencer Klein, a research physicist. He is recognized for his distinguished contributions in the interface of astrophysics, nuclear physics and particle physics, including neutrino astrophysics and ultra-peripheral collisions of heavy ions.

 

 

 

Sanjay Kumar, professor of bioengineering.Sanjay Kumar, a professor of bioengineering. He is recognized for his distinguished contributions to the field of bioengineering, particularly the development of biomaterial and single-cell technologies to investigate mechanobiological signaling in health and disease.

 

 

 

Robert Ritchie, professor of mechanical engineering and of materials science.Robert Ritchie, a professor of mechanical engineering and of materials science. He is recognized for his distinguished contributions to the understanding of the fracture of materials and structures — from metals, ceramics and composites to aircraft, medical devices and biological materials.

 

 

Peidong Yang, professor of chemistry at Berkeley

Peidong Yang, a professor of chemistry. He is recognized  for his pioneering work on semiconductor nanowire-based technology, including molecularly designed nanosystems to solve some of the most vexing energy problems of our time.

Klein, Kumar, Ritchie and Yang are all affiliated with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Full list of 2020 AAAS fellows