AAS Fellows
The AAS Fellows program was established in 2019 (read our press release) to recognize AAS members for their contributions toward the Society's mission of enhancing and sharing humanity's scientific understanding of the universe. Fellows may be cited for original research and publication, innovative contributions to astronomical techniques or instrumentation, significant contributions to education and public outreach, and noteworthy service to astronomy and to the Society itself.
Self-nominations are allowed. Nominations are now open and due on 30 June 2022.
Visit the Fellows Nomination Page on the AAS OpenWater Portal

Margaret Burbidge
Inaugural Fellow
AAS Fellows Class of 2022
Press Release (5 January 2022)
RECIPIENT | INSTITUTION | CITATION |
Gary Bernstein | University of Pennsylvania | For advancing the state of the art in optical surveys through contributions to instrumentation, theory, algorithms, and project development; leadership in developing weak gravitational lensing as a precision measure of the dark universe; and discoveries in the outer solar system. |
Alan Boss | Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science | For innovative theoretical investigations of the formation of stars and exoplanets, particularly for advancing the theory of gravitational instability in the rapid formation of gas giants planets. For great commitment to confronting exoplanet formation theory with observations, including his work on the Kepler Mission Science Team, and for his tireless leadership within the exoplanet exploration community in ensuring that NASA executes a credible and successful exoplanet program. |
Hsiao-Wen Chen | The University of Chicago | For fundamental work using quasar absorption-line observations to study the halo gas content of galaxies. |
Kelle Cruz | CUNY Hunter College | For her continuous dedication to the betterment of the scientific process and community. Her efforts include starting the AstroBetter blog — which has become a regular visitation site for Astronomers looking for tricks of the trade and advice on best practices — serving important leadership roles within the AAS such as chair of the Employment Committee (2010-2017) and Board member from 2017-2020, and authoring seminal papers in brown dwarf science. |
Imke de Pater | University of California, Berkeley | For innovative observations of bodies in our Solar System using cutting-edge instrumentation across the electromagnetic spectrum, and in-depth modeling of the data. |
Jacqueline Faherty | American Museum of Natural History | For outstanding accomplishments in the study of brown dwarfs and directly imaged exoplanets; a dedication to public outreach; and for service as an advocate, role model, and mentor to astronomers from underrepresented groups. |
Henry Ferguson | Space Telescope Science Institute | For scientific, technical, and community leadership of surveys of the distant universe with the Hubble Space Telescope, in combination with other facilities. |
George Helou | Caltech/IPAC | For significant contributions to our understanding of the infrared universe and enabling community access to data from Spitzer, Herschel, Planck, and other missions. |
Luis Ho | Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University | For pioneering multiwavelength searches for active galactic nuclei powered by black holes, including those in small galaxies, and for leadership that is shaping China’s emergence as a world power in astronomy. |
Judith T. Karpen | NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center | For her sustained contributions to understanding the formation and dynamics of the solar corona and wind. |
Richard Klein | University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory | For broad and influential contributions to computational astrophysics, including the pioneering development of block structured adaptive mesh refinement, for scientific achievements on radiatively-driven stellar winds and star formation theory, and for training of a generation of students and postdoctoral scholars. |
Richard Kron | The University of Chicago | For pioneering photometric studies of high-redshift galaxies and for service to the astronomy community through his dedicated career of leadership of optical surveys, particularly the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Dark Energy Survey. |
Charles Lada | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian | For a distinguished career investigating the formation of stars and for pioneering advances on our understanding of molecular clouds, sequential star formation, molecular outflows, evolution of young stellar objects, circumstellar disks, embedded clusters, and star formation rates and histories. |
Chung-Pei Ma | University of California at Berkeley | For pioneering contributions to wide-ranging theoretical and observational studies of black holes, galaxy evolution and dynamics, and cosmology. |
Philip Massey | Lowell Observatory | For fundamental observational work on luminous stars in the Local Group and nearby galaxies, including red supergiants and most especially Wolf-Rayet stars, and insights on the IMF and evolution of these objects as a function of their environments; and for multiple altruistic contributions to the health and vitality of our field. |
Harold McAlister | Georgia State University | For pioneering work in high angular resolution astronomy including the discovery of thousands of visual binary stars through speckle interferometry and the construction of the CHARA Array optical long baseline interferometer that has obtained some of the first resolved images of the surfaces of stars; for the founding of the Georgia State University Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy; and for a decade of leadership of the historic Mount Wilson Observatory. |
Lucy McFadden | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Retired | For her research incorporating both ground-based and space-based observations of near-Earth asteroids and comets, including compositional studies of near-Earth asteroids and the implications for their origins; her long service to both the AAS and the DPS; and her commitment to the organization of educational opportunities in science and technology for students ranging from grade school to undergraduate college levels. |
Victoria Meadows | University of Washington | For her pioneering work in developing the field of exoplanet astrobiology, including decades of scientific leadership and service, and an exceptional commitment to training the next generation of astrobiologists. For founding the Virtual Planetary Laboratory in 2001 and leading the decades-long development of the massively interdisciplinary modeling framework and community needed to establish the science of exoplanet astrobiology. |
C. Robert O'Dell | Vanderbilt University | For his efforts as founding Project Scientist in bringing the Hubble Space Telescope and the Space Telescope Science Institute from formulation to fruition and his multi-wavelength studies of Planetary Nebula, the Orion Nebula, and its associated proplyds. |
Ilaria Pascucci | University of Arizona | For her scientific contributions to understanding how planet-forming disks evolve and disperse. |
Farid Salama | NASA Ames Research Center | For his significant contributions to scientific advances in Astrophysics and Astrochemistry, in particular his work on interstellar dust and planetary atmospheres and his service to the community through his key contribution to the national and international recognition of Laboratory Astrophysics through the creation of the Laboratory Astrophysics Division of the AAS and the Laboratory Astrophysics Commission of the IAU. |
John H. Thomas | University of Rochester | For important contributions to solar and stellar physics, including advancements in our understanding of the behavior of magnetic fields and theoretical and observational studies of sunspots, and for service and leadership within the AAS, as chair of the Solar Physics Division and as a scientific editor of the Astrophysical Journal. |
Tommaso Treu | University of California, Los Angeles | For his discoveries on the nature of dark matter and the expansion history of the universe through innovative strong gravitational lensing observations and analysis methods. |
AAS Fellows Class of 2021
Press Release (2 February 2021)
*Deceased
RECIPIENT | INSTITUTION | CITATION |
Conny Aerts | KU Leuven, Belgium | For pioneering work in the area of asteroseismology. |
Amy Barger | University of Wisconsin-Madison | For the discovery of distant, dusty, star-forming galaxies and obscured supermassive black holes using multiwavelength observations. |
Peter Boyce | American Astronomical Society, Retired | For establishing the AAS Executive Office in Washington, DC, and setting a high standard of service to the Society’s members and the broader astronomical community. |
Catherine Cesarsky | Saclay Nuclear Research Centre, France | For a career of exceptional leadership in astronomy. |
You-Hua Chu | Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica | For her pioneering work on multiwavelength studies of stellar energy feedback and her extensive service to the American and international astronomical communities. |
Anita Cochran | University of Texas at Austin | For her research addressing the molecular composition and structure of comets and her decades of service to the community. |
Françoise Combes | Collège de France | For extraordinary contributions to the field of radio astronomy, in particular contributions to the discovery of carbon monoxide outside our Milky Way. |
Wanda Díaz-Merced | National Astronomical Observatory of Japan | For significant and innovative leadership in increasing access to astronomy for people who have lost their eyesight. |
Frank Drake | SETI Institute | For pioneering a novel, practical, and durable scheme for uncovering intelligence elsewhere in the cosmos. |
Gary J. Ferland | University of Kentucky | For his innovative work in developing and applying the Cloudy spectral synthesis code to understand physical processes in the interstellar medium. |
Alexei V. Filippenko | University of California, Berkeley | For his seminal contributions to studies of black holes, active galaxies, supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and the accelerating expansion of the universe and for his success in educating the general public about astronomy. |
Joshua Frieman | Fermilab / University of Chicago | For significant theoretical work on inflationary cosmology and dark energy and for pioneering contributions to optical survey science. |
John S. Gallagher III | University of Wisconsin-Madison | For multimessenger studies of the properties of extragalactic systems, contributions to the development of key observational capabilities, and his work as longtime Editor of the Astronomical Journal. |
Philip R. Goode | New Jersey Institute of Technology | For pioneering work in helioseismology and for leadership in university-based solar physics. |
John Grunsfeld | NASA, Retired | For risking life and limb in the service of fellow astronomers; lifelong contributions to astronomy and astrophysics in scientific research, instrumentation, and leadership; and as a global ambassador of astronomy. |
Puragra Guhathakurta | University of California, Santa Cruz | For seminal contributions to studies of galaxy formation and evolution and stellar populations as well as a lifetime of dedicated service to the training of young scientists. |
Heidi Hammel | Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy | For significant contributions to planetary science, in particular her work on Uranus, Neptune, and impacts upon Jupiter, and for leadership in science management. |
John Hawley* | University of Virginia | For pioneering work in computational astrophysics and its application to studies of accretion disks and jets. |
John P. Hughes | Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey | For outstanding accomplishments in X-ray astronomy, including critical contributions to the development of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. |
Roberta Humphreys | University of Minnesota | For a distinguished scientific career studying massive stars and for a long history of significant scientific leadership. |
Garth D. Illingworth | University of California, Santa Cruz | For path-breaking studies of infant galaxies at the dawn of the universe, lifelong service to the astronomical community, and astute guidance on the national and international scene. |
Rachel Ivie | American Institute of Physics | For a groundbreaking career of statistical studies tracking important diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in the astronomical sciences. |
Victoria Kaspi | McGill University, Canada | For innovative work in the field of neutron stars and pulsars. |
Mark S. Marley | NASA Ames Research Center | For innovative and foundational contributions to a remarkable diversity of topics within planetary, exoplanetary, and substellar object science. |
Matt Mountain | Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy | For exceptional leadership enabling research across the electromagnetic spectrum, and for promoting the advance of astronomy and scientific inquiry to policy makers worldwide. |
Richard Mushotzky | University of Maryland | For his leadership in X-ray and multiwavelength imaging, timing, and spectroscopy focusing on the physics of black hole accretion, evolution of the elements, and cosmology. |
Rita Sambruna | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | For exceptional contributions to the fundamental understanding of relativistic jets from supermassive black holes, for being an ally to, and role model for, underrepresented groups in the field; and for leadership and service. |
Daniel Wolf Savin | Columbia University | For wide-ranging contributions to astrophysically motivated atomic and molecular collision studies and for his extensive service to the AAS and the laboratory astrophysics community. |
Harold Weaver | Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory | For pioneering spectroscopic techniques to quantify the abundances of cometary volatiles and for significant contributions to solar system studies with the Hubble Space Telescope and the New Horizons and Rosetta spacecraft. |
Belinda Wilkes | Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory | For dedicated leadership of the astronomical community as director of the Chandra X-ray Center. |
Ellen Zweibel | University of Wisconsin-Madison | For extraordinary and sustained contributions to theoretical plasma astrophysics and community leadership. |
AAS Fellows Class of 2020 (Legacy Fellows)
Press Release (25 February 2020)
*Deceased
RECIPIENT | INSTITUTION |
Helmut Abt | NSF's NOIRLab |
Loren Acton | Montana State University |
Charles Alcock | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
Louis Allamandola | NASA Ames Research Center |
Spiro Antiochos | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
William David Arnett | University of Arizona |
Evangelia Athanassoula | Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille |
Fran Bagenal | University of Colorado, Boulder |
Neta Bahcall | Princeton University |
Bruce Balick | University of Washington, Seattle |
Jennifer Bartlett | US Naval Observatory |
Sarbani Basu | Yale University |
Natalie Batalha | University of California, Santa Cruz |
Stefi Baum | University of Manitoba |
Reta Beebe | New Mexico State University |
Peter Beiersdorfer | LLNL |
Jocelyn Bell Burnell | University of Oxford |
Edwin Bergin | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor |
Lars Bildsten | University of California, Santa Barbara |
Roger Blandford | Stanford University |
Elizabeth Blanton | Boston University |
Ann Boesgaard | University of Hawaii |
Howard Bond | Pennsylvania State University/STScI |
John Richard Bond | University of Toronto |
Kirk Borne | Booz-Allen Hamilton |
William Borucki | NASA Ames Research Center |
Hale Bradt | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Niel Brandt | Pennsylvania State University |
Joel Bregman | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor |
Jack Burns | University of Colorado, Boulder |
John Carlstrom | University of Chicago, Illinois |
Bruce Carney | University of North Carolina |
Deepto Chakrabarty | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Edward Cheng | Conceptual Analytics |
Roger Chevalier | University of Virginia |
Edward Churchwell | University of Wisconsin, Madison |
Barry Clark | National Radio Astronomy Observatory |
Kimberly Coble | San Francisco State University |
Lynn Cominsky | Sonoma State University |
Brenda Corbin | US Naval Observatory, Retired |
Lennox Cowie | University of Hawaii at Manoa |
Anne Cowley | Arizona State University |
Patrick Crane | Naval Research Laboratory, Retired |
Dale Cruikshank | NASA Ames Research Center |
Thijs de Graauw | Joint ALMA Observatory |
Tim de Zeeuw | Leiden Observatory, Leiden University |
Drake Deming | University of Maryland, College Park |
Grace Deming | University of Maryland, College Park |
David DeVorkin | Smithsonian Institute |
Steven Dick | NASA, Retired |
William Dixon | Space Telescope Science Institute |
George Doschek | NRL |
Bruce Draine | Princeton University |
Andrea Dupree | SAO |
Thomas Duvall | Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research |
Kathy DeGioia Eastwood | Northern Arizona University |
Frossie Economou | Rubin Observatory/NSF's NOIRLab |
Bruce Elmegreen | IBM Research Div. |
Debra Elmegreen | Vassar College |
Nancy Evans | SAO |
Sandra Faber | University of California at Santa Cruz |
Giovanni Fazio | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
Douglas Finkbeiner | Harvard University |
Debra Fischer | Yale University |
Jerry Fishman | NASA |
Terry Forbes | University of New Hampshire |
William Forman | SAO |
Andrew Fraknoi | Fromm Inst./University of San Francisco |
Wendy Freedman | University of Chicago |
Kenneth Freeman | Austrailian National University |
Linda French | Illinois Wesleyan Univeristy |
Richard French | Wellesley College |
Eileen Friel | Indiana University, Bloomington |
Catharine Garmany | NSF's NOIRLab |
Robert Gehrz | University of Minnesota |
Dawn Gelino | NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, Caltech |
Andrea Ghez | University of California, Los Angeles |
Mark Giampapa | National Solar Observatory |
Ronald Gilliland | Pennsylvania State University/STScI, Retired |
Peter Gilman | HAO/NCAR |
Anthony Gonzalez | University of Florida, Gainesville |
Gabriela González | Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge |
Alyssa Goodman | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
Richard Green | University of Arizona |
R. Elizabeth Griffin | Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics |
Jonathan E. Grindlay | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
Edward Guinan | Villanova University |
Jeffrey Hall | Lowell Observatory |
Robert Hanisch | National Institute of Standards and Technology |
Margaret Hanson | University of Cincinnati |
Bruce Hapke | University of Pittsburgh |
Alice Harding | Los Alamos National Laboratory |
Fiona Harrison | California Institute of Technology |
John Harvey | National Solar Observatory |
Michael Hauser | Space Telescope Science Institute |
Suzanne Hawley | Astrophysical Research Consortium |
Martha Haynes | Cornell University |
Carl Heiles | University of California, Berkeley |
David Helfand | Columbia University |
Mary Kay Hemenway | University of Texas at Austin, Retired |
Arne Henden | AAVSO, Retired |
Todd Henry | RECONS |
James Hesser | Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre |
Jacqueline Hewitt | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Jarita Holbrook | University of the Western Cape |
William Hubbard | University of Arizona |
Hugh Hudson | University of California, Berkeley |
Deidre Hunter | Lowell Observatory |
Chris Impey | University of Arizona |
Andrew Ingersoll | California Institute of Technology |
Zeljko Ivezic | University of Washington, Seattle |
Christine Jones | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
James Kaler | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign |
Vasiliki Kalogera | Northwestern University |
Marc Kamionkowski | Johns Hopkins University |
Joel Kastner | RIT Center for Imaging Science |
Steven Kawaler | Iowa State University |
Robert Kennicutt | University of Arizona and Texas A&M University |
Robert Kirshner | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
Patricia Knezek | National Science Foundation |
Chryssa Kouveliotou | George Washington University |
Leonard Kuhi | University of Minnesota |
Michael Kurtz | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
Arlo Landolt* | Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge |
James Lawler | University of Wisconsin |
Stephen Lawrence | Hofstra University |
John Leibacher | Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Lunar & Planetary Lab. U. Arizona, & NSO |
Douglas Lin | University of California, Santa Cruz |
Chris Lintott | University of Oxford |
Jack Lissauer | NASA Ames Research Center |
Charles Liu | CUNY College of Staten Island |
G. Wesley Lockwood | Lowell Observatory |
Sangeeta Malhotra | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
Stephen Maran | American Astronomical Society, Retired |
Maxim Markevitch | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
Laurence Marschall | Gettysburg College |
John Mather | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
Claire Max | University of California, Santa Cruz |
Donald McCarthy | University of Arizona |
Stephen McCluskey | West Virginia University |
Jonathan McDowell | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
Melissa McGrath | SETI Institute |
Christopher McKee | University of California, Berkeley |
Ian McLean | University of California, Los Angeles |
Peter Meszaros | Pennsylvania State University |
Travis Metcalfe | Space Science Institute |
Brian Metzger | Columbia University |
Robert Milkey | American Astronomical Society, Retired |
John Monnier | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor |
David Morrison | SETI Institute |
Jeremy Mould | Swinburne University |
Nicholas Murphy | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
Philip Nicholson | Cornell University |
Keith Noll | NASA |
Dara Norman | NSF's NOIRLab |
Wayne Osborn | Central Michigan University |
Jeremiah Ostriker | Columbia University |
Terry Oswalt | Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University |
Eugene Parker* | University of Chicago |
Jay Pasachoff* | Williams College |
James Peebles | Princeton University |
William Pence | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
Richard Perley | NRAO |
Carle Pieters | Brown University |
Catherine Pilachowski | Indiana University |
Judith Pipher* | University of Rochester |
Marc Postman | Space Telescope Science Institute |
Frederic Rasio | Northwestern University |
Martin Rees | Inst. of Astronomy |
Iain Reid | Space Telescope Science Institute |
Mark Reid | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
Ronald Remillard | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Ronald Reynolds | University of Wisconsin |
Christina Richey | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
George Rieke | University of Arizona |
Marcia Rieke | University of Arizona |
Adam Riess | Johns Hopkins University |
Roger Romani | Stanford University |
Arnold Rots | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
Anneila Sargent | California Institute of Technology |
Sara Schechner | Harvard University |
Philip Scherrer | Stanford University |
Andrea Schweitzer | Little Thompson Observatory |
Sara Seager | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Robert Seaman | LPL |
Patrick Seitzer | University of Michigan, Ann Arbor |
Jerry Sellwood | Steward Observatory |
Irwin Shapiro | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
Gerald Share | University of Maryland, College Park |
Stephen Shectman | Carnegie Observatories |
Neil Sheeley | Naval Research Lab, Retired |
Aneta Siemiginowska | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
Joseph Silk | Institute of Astrophysics |
Susan Simkin* | Michigan State University, Retired |
Rachel Somerville | Flatiron Institute/Rutgers University |
Linda Sparke | NASA HQ |
David Spergel | Princeton University |
Sumner Starrfield | Arizona State University |
Keivan Stassun | Vanderbilt University |
Peter Stetson | Herzberg Inst. of Astrophysics |
James Stone | Institute for Advance Study |
Tod Strohmayer | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
Peter Sturrock | Stanford University |
Woodruff Sullivan | University of Washington, Seattle |
Rashid Sunyaev | Max-Planck Inst. fuer Astrophysics |
Jean Hebb Swank | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
Mark Sykes | Planetary Science Institute |
Harvey Tananbaum | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
Jill Tarter | SETI Institute |
Peter Teuben | University of Maryland, College Park |
Douglas Tody* | NRAO |
Alan Tokunaga | University of Hawaii, Honolulu |
John Trauger | Jet Propulsion Laboratory |
Scott Tremaine | Institute for Advanced Study |
Virginia Trimble | University of California, Irvine |
Michael Turner | University of Chicago |
James Ulvestad | National Science Foundation |
Megan Urry | Yale University |
Nicole Van Der Bliek | NSF's NOIRLab |
Michiel Van Der Klis | University of Amsterdam |
Paul Vanden Bout | NRAO |
Alexey Vikhlinin | Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian |
Faith Vilas | Planetary Science Institute |
George Wallerstein* | University of Washington, Seattle |
Wayne Warren | University of Maryland University College |
Kimberly Weaver | NASA Goddard Space Flight Center |
Alycia Weinberger | Carnegie Institution of Washington |
Rainer Weiss | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Martin C. Weisskopf | NASA Marshall Space Flight Center |
J. Craig Wheeler | University of Texas at Austin |
Robert Williams | Space Telescope Science Institute |
Lee Anne Willson | Iowa State University |
Colleen Wilson-Hodge | NASA Marshall Space Flight Center |
Jack Wisdom | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Sidney Wolff | NSF's NOIRLab |
Aleksander Wolszczan | Pennsylvania State University |
Charles Woodward | University of Minnesota |
Stan Woosley | University of California, Santa Cruz |
Rosemary Wyse | Johns Hopkins University |
Erick Young | Universities Space Research Association (USRA) |
Lucy Ziurys | University of Arizona |