Researchers in chemistry, engineering, physics and biological sciences honored by AAAS
Five faculty members at the University of Notre Dame have been elected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) as lifetime fellows.
The fellows include Patricia A. Champion, Jon P. Camden, Yih-Fang Huang, Ahsan Kareem and Rebecca Surman. All are being recognized for scientifically and socially distinguished achievements in their respective fields of study.
Patricia A. Champion, professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and director of postdoctoral studies in the College of Science, is being honored for her contributions to the field of bacterial genetics, particularly for identifying mechanisms of bacterial protein transport across membranes in mycobacterial pathogenesis. Champion is an affiliated member of Notre Dame’s Eck Institute for Global Health, Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health and the Boler-Parseghian Center for Rare and Neglected Diseases.
Jon P. Camden, professor of chemistry and biochemistry and director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is being honored for his distinguished contributions to the field of physical chemistry, and in particular for his study of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy and the properties of plasmonic nanostructures. Camden is also an affiliated member of the Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health, ND Energy, Notre Dame Nanoscience and Technology and the Warren Center for Drug Discovery.
Yih-Fang Huang, professor and senior associate dean for education and undergraduate programs in the College of Engineering, is being honored for contributions to the field of adaptive filtering and its applications to wireless communications and distributed sensor networks. Huang’s expertise includes statistical communications and signal processing, signal detection and estimation, parameter estimation, adaptive and array signal processing, interference suppression for wireless communications, set-membership filtering and identification. He is an affiliated member of ND Energy and a life fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Ahsan Kareem, the Robert M. Moran Professor of Engineering, is being recognized for his contributions and achievements in advancing the safety and resilience of civil infrastructure exposed to natural hazards. Kareem is director of the NatHaz Modeling Laboratory. His research includes using synergistic approaches such as computer models, laboratory and full-scale experiments to better understand and predict the impact of natural hazards on the constructed environment and to develop measures to enhance their performance.
Rebecca Surman, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, is being honored for her distinguished contributions to nuclear astrophysics, and for investigating and exploiting the relationship between nuclear properties and astrophysics to elucidate the origins of the heaviest elements. Surman is an affiliated member of the Center for Astrophysics and the Institute for Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics at Notre Dame, as well as the NSF Physics Frontier Center Network for Neutrinos, Nuclear Astrophysics and Symmetries and the NSF Focused Research Hub Nuclear Physics from Multi-Messenger Mergers.
AAAS fellowships date back to 1874 — which included Rev. Joseph Celestine Basile Carrier, C.S.C., the first director of the science program at the University of Notre Dame in 1865, when the College of Science was established as a department.
Contact: Jessica Sieff, assistant director of media relations, 574-631-3933, jsieff@nd.edu
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