Eight faculty from four University of Pennsylvania schools have been elected 2022 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) fellows. They are among more than 500 researchers honored for their “scientifically and socially distinguished achievements.”

Since 1874, AAAS, a scientific society aimed at advancing science, engineering, and innovation “throughout the world for the benefit of all,” has annually named a class of fellows. This year, the work spans 24 scientific disciplines.

William Beltran is the Corinne R. and Henry Bower Professor of Ophthalmology in the department of clinical sciences and advanced medicine and director of the division of experimental retinal therapies in the School of Veterinary Medicine. His research focuses on inherited retinal degeneration, a major cause of blindness in dogs and humans worldwide. Working with canines who suffer from forms of retinal degeneration that closely mimic human disease, Dr. Beltran has helped develop effective gene therapies with promising results for treating both early- and late-stage disease.

Brian D. Gregory is professor of biology and graduate chair in the School of Arts and Sciences’ department of biology. Dr. Gregory has pioneered the development and use of high-throughput sequencing and computational biology approaches to study the structure, modification, and interactions of ribonucleic acid (RNA), primarily working in plants. Elucidating the dynamics of RNA, Dr. Gregory’s studies have highlighted previously unappreciated regulatory processes that affect how genes are expressed or silenced. His insights into RNA regulation have important implications in plant biology but also extend to understanding gene regulation in other species, including humans.

Insup Lee is the Cecilia Fitler Moore Professor in the department of computer and information science and director of the PRECISE Center. He holds secondary appointments in the department of electrical and systems engineering and in the Perelman School of Medicine’s department of biostatistics, epidemiology, & informatics. His research seeks to assure and improve the correctness, safety, and timeliness of life-critical embedded systems and involves finding fundamental and practical solutions to problems of modeling, control, simulation, operation, formal design, and implementation of cyber-physical systems and internet-of-medical things. 

Guo-li Ming is a Perelman Professor of Neuroscience in the department of neuroscience and a member of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine. She received her medical training on child and maternal care from Tongji Medical University in China and her PhD from the University of California, San Diego. After postdoctoral training at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, she joined Johns Hopkins University. Research in the Ming Lab centers on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying neuronal development and its dysregulation using mouse systems and patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells.

Eric J. Schelter is a professor in the department of chemistry in the School of Arts and Sciences. His primary areas of focus lie in synthetic inorganic and organometallic chemistry to address problems in critical metals separations, develop new materials with quantum properties, understand the roles of f-elements in biology, and gain insight into their unique chemical bonding.

Theodore Schurr is a professor in the department of anthropology in the School of Arts and Sciences, director of the Laboratory of Molecular Anthropology at Penn, and a consulting curator in the physical anthropology and American sections of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. For more than three decades, Dr. Schurr has conducted anthropological genetics research, combining ethnographic field research with the laboratory analysis of DNA samples collected for his projects.

Warren D. Seider is a professor in the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science who has made significant contributions to the fields of computer-aided process analysis, simulation, design, and control. Dr. Seider works on phase and chemical equilibria, azeotropic distillation, heat and power integration, Czochralski crystallization, algae growth to biofuels, nonlinear control, and safety and risk analysis. He is recognized for foundational research, simulation software, teaching, and service contributions to the field of computer-aided process design and control.

Karen I. Winey is the Harold Pender Professor in the departments of materials science &engineering and chemical & biomolecular engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Dr. Winey’s research, which focuses on the nanoscale structures in ionomers and associating polymers to improve mechanical and transport properties, has recently reported new structures in several precise ionomers. She has contributed to polymer science, particularly in the understanding and manipulation of unique polymer nanocomposites and ion-containing polymers.