Distinguished Professor Named Fellow in Scientific Society

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Distinguished Professor Peter Pulay has been awarded the distinction of Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal Science.

Election as a Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers. This year 376 members have been awarded this honor nationally because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.

As part of the chemistry section, he was elected for the development of mathematical and computational techniques widely used for the exploration of potential energy surfaces.

Pulay is considered by his peers to be one of the top five researchers in his field. He has received numerous honors including the Medal of the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Sciences, the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award and the Schröedinger Medal of the World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists.

Early in his career he developed techniques for determining the shape and size of molecules that would permanently change the way scientists study matter. Today his approach is widely used by theoretical chemist around the world. The Royal Swedish Academy credited this work to being crucial in a 1998 Nobel Prize. Between 1980 and 1997, his research was cited by 3,303 times earning the title of "Citation Classic" by the Institution of Scientific Information. Pulay is the holder of the Mildred B. Cooper Chair in Bioinformatics Research.

This year’s AAAS Fellows were announced in the Oct. 28 AAAS News & Notes section of the journal Science. Pulay will be presented with an official certificate and a rosette pin of gold and blue, representing science and engineering, respectively, on Feb. 18, 2006, at the Fellows Forum during the AAAS annual meeting in St. Louis, Mo.

The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Currently, members can be considered for the rank of Fellow if nominated by the steering groups of the association's 24 sections, or by any three Fellows who are current AAAS members (so long as two of the three sponsors are not affiliated with the nominee's institution), or by the AAAS chief executive officer.

For more information about the journal Science, go to www.sciencemag.org.