Six Stanford scholars named to American Association for the Advancement of Science

Six Stanford scholars have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an honor bestowed upon members of the association by their peers.

Zhenan Bao is a professor of chemical engineering and, by courtesy, of materials science and engineering. Before joining the Stanford faculty in 2004, she was a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in the Materials Research Department of Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies. She has more than 280 refereed publications and holds more than 50 U.S. patents.

Bao was named a AAAS Fellow for her "seminal contributions that have advanced the science and technology of printed and flexible electronics through development of novel organic semiconductors, deposition and growth processes." Bao's research could lead to applications such as organic and carbon nanotube thin film transistors, organic photovoltaic cells, chemical/biological sensors and molecular switches, and artificial electronic skin.

Patricia Burchat, the Gabilan Professor in the Department of Physics, was selected for her "distinguished contributions in particle physics and astrophysics and for leadership of the Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics." Burchat, who received her PhD from Stanford, played a key role in a number of accelerator-based particle physics experiments that probe the fundamental interactions, especially the "weak" interaction, and in furthering the understanding of how matter and antimatter evolve differently in time.

Burchat is a founding member of the BABAR Collaboration, an international group of more than 500 physicists who conducted a highly productive experiment at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Her new research effort involves the development of a large survey telescope, the LSST, with a focus on mapping the "dark matter" in the universe as a probe for understanding the nature of "dark energy."

Sarah Donaldson, MD, is a professor of radiation oncology and holds the Catharine and Howard Avery Professorship in the School of Medicine. Donaldson was selected for her "distinguished contributions to the management of childhood cancer and its effect on survivorship, and visionary leadership in pioneering novel, personalized, multidisciplinary treatment strategies."

Over the past four decades, Donaldson has become an internationally recognized authority in pediatric radiation oncology, advancing therapeutic approaches for pediatric Hodgkin's disease, childhood soft tissue and bone cancers, lymphomas of the eye and other disorders. She created a treatment program for kids with Hodgkin's disease using low-dose, involved-field radiotherapy and chemotherapy that today is the standard of care and results in a greater than 90 percent survival rate, without the long-term side effects of prior treatments. She is also a member of the Stanford Cancer Institute.

Edward Lazear, the Jack Steele Parker Professor of Human Resources Management and Economics and the Morris A. Cox Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, was selected for "founding the field of personnel economics, establishing the Society of Labor Economists, extraordinary public service and dedicated mentoring of junior and female economists." His research centers on employee incentives, promotions, compensation and productivity in firms.

Lazear has also devoted study to culture and language, with an emphasis on explaining the rise in multiculturalism in the United States. His recent research topics include understanding entrepreneurship and leadership, and their relation to personnel economics as well as economics of education. Lazear served as chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers and was at the White House from 2006 to 2009, advising on matters involving both the macroeconomy and microeconomic issues.

Thomas Rindfleisch is director emeritus of the medical school's Lane Medical Library. He was selected for his "distinguished contributions to artificial intelligence in medical and space image-processing fields, and as director of four Stanford centers for research in medical informatics."

Before directing the medical library for four years, Rindfleisch spent nearly 30 years as a senior research scientist in the Stanford departments of Medicine and of Computer Science. He led the SUMEX-AIM and CAMIS computing resources, funded by the National Institutes of Health to develop open, network-based, distributed computing services for applications in health care, including medical record systems. Before coming to Stanford in 1971, he developed some of the earliest digital image-processing technologies at the Caltech/NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory for unmanned space missions and for civilian applications. He is a fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics.

Anthony D. Wagner, a professor of psychology and neurosciences, was recognized for his "distinguished contributions to the field of cognitive neuroscience, particularly for outstanding research on the neural mechanisms underlying human memory and cognitive control."

Wagner's Stanford Memory Laboratory focuses on the psychology and neurobiology of learning, memory and executive function. His experiments use a variety of imaging techniques, including functional MRI and electroencephalography, to understand how the brain builds and retrieves memories and to examine the processes that enable goal-directed behavior. His research focuses on brain function in healthy individuals, and his collaborative work examines the neurobiology of memory change in Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia. Wagner co-directs the Stanford Center for Cognitive and Neurobiological Imaging and is a member of the MacArthur Foundation's Law and Neuroscience Project.

This year's 702 new members will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Saturday, Feb. 16, during the 2013 AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston.

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