Eight Cornell scientists have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.

This year 388 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their efforts to advance science or its applications. New fellows will be announced in the Nov. 29 issue of Science and presented with a certificate and a rosette pin Feb. 15 at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2014 AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago. Fellows are nominated by peers in their fields.

The new fellows from Cornell and their AAAS citations are:

• Harold G. Craighead, the Charles W. Lake Jr. Professor of Engineering and professor of applied and engineering physics, for distinguished contributions to nanotechnology and its applications in electronic, mechanical, optical and biomedical fields.
• Robin L. Davisson, the Andrew Dickson White Professor of Molecular Physiology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology at Weill Cornell Medical College, for distinguished contributions to understanding the pathogenesis of hypertension.
• James J. Giovannoni, adjunct professor of plant biology and a researcher at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell, for international leadership on tomato genomics research, including pioneering discoveries in fruit ripening, as well as leadership of tomato genome sequencing efforts.
• Carla P. Gomes, professor of computer science and director of the Institute for Computational Sustainability, for distinguished contributions in computer science, particularly for advances in automated reasoning, constraint reasoning and optimization, and for visionary leadership and innovation in computational sustainability.
• Stewart M. Gray, professor of plant pathology, for distinguished contributions to our understanding of the relationship among viruses, vectors and hosts, and application of that understanding to benefit humankind.
• Donald L. Hartill, professor of physics, for distinguished contributions to experimental particle physics and accelerator science and technology, and through service on important committees benefiting the larger scientific community.
• John D. Helmann, professor and chair of the Department of Microbiology, for distinguished research discoveries on the fundamental mechanisms underlying intricate gene regulatory events in Bacillus subtilis in response to antibiotics, metal ions and oxidative stress.
• Patricia A. Johnson, professor and chair of the Department of Animal Science, for distinguished contributions to female reproductive biology of birds, particularly follicular recruitment and characterization of the hen as a model for ovarian cancer.