AAS Fellows

AAS Fellow Pin 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.

Submit Your Nomination

Visit the Fellows Nomination Page on the AAS OpenWater Portal

Frequently Asked Questions About the AAS Fellows Program

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)