Five members of the Cornell faculty have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. The researchers will be recognized at the annual AAAS meeting, held this year in San Francisco on Feb. 17.

Those being honored are Hector Abruña, the E.M. Chamot Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and department chair; Barbara Baird, professor of chemistry and chemical biology; Geoffrey William Coates, professor of chemistry and chemical biology; Michael Shuler, the S.B. Eckert Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the J. and M. McCormick Chair of Biomedical Engineering; and Mariana Wolfner, professor of molecular biology and genetics.

Abruña is cited for contributions to analytical and electrocatalytic applications of chemically modified electrodes, biosensors, redox-active dendrimers, structure and dynamics of electrodeposition, molecular electronics and fuel cell electrocatalysts. Abruña, who completed his graduate studies at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1980, manages a research group that uses electrochemical techniques to probe a variety of chemical systems. His laboratory also uses such techniques as X-ray based methods, scanned probe microscopies, low temperature conductance and spectroscopic techniques to address problems of electrochemical interest.

Baird's research includes developing novel biophysical and nanobiological approaches to elucidating mechanisms of receptor-mediated cell activation. She is principal investigator for Cornell's training grant in molecular biophysics, supported by the National Institutes of Health, and co-directs the W.F. Keck Foundation Program in Molecular and Cellular Biophysics of Signal Transduction. Her research group uses biochemical and biophysical approaches to investigate basic mechanisms of cell surface receptors in mediating transmembrane signals in immune responses. Baird has a Ph.D. in chemistry from Cornell in 1979.

Coates is cited for outstanding accomplishments in the design of homogeneous catalysts enabling the preparation of novel, ecologically benign polymers. Coates, who received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1994, focuses on the development of new synthetic strategies for producing polymers of defined structure, including interdisciplinary projects addressing problems at the interface of organic, inorganic, organometallic and polymer chemistry.

Shuler, who received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in 1973, was named an AAAS engineering fellow for his work on bioprocess engineering, particularly Taxol production from plant cell culture, in vitro toxicology, single-cell models and heterologous protein production. Shuler currently serves as chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. His research interests include focusing on applying chemical reaction engineering principles to biological systems and investigating targeted drug delivery to multidrug-resistant cancer cells.

Wolfner's research uses a fruit fly model to better understand (at the molecular and genetic levels) the important reproductive processes that occur around the time when a sperm fertilizes an egg. Among other projects, she also studies how molecular signals activate an oocyte (an immature egg) to initiate embryo development. Wolfner received her Ph.D. from Stanford in 1981 and is a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow.