Three CBE Faculty Members Named AAAS Fellows

Two current NC State University Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (CBE) faculty members and one incoming faculty member in CBE have been named 2024 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

• Jan Genzer, S. Frank and Doris Culberson Distinguished Professor, was elected for developing original methods that adjust the structure of self-assembled monolayers and grafted macromolecules on surfaces.

• Jim Pfaendtner, Louis Martin-Vega Dean of Engineering and Professor, was elected for his contributions in applications of computational molecular science to the study of interfacial phenomena in biomolecules and materials.

• Krista Walton, the incoming vice chancellor for research and innovation and Distinguished Professor, was elected for her contributions in the design, synthesis and characterization of functional porous materials for use in adsorption applications. She is currently the associate vice president for research operations and infrastructure at the Georgia Institute of Technology and starts at NC State on June 30.

“I was surprised, humbled, excited and honored,” said Genzer of learning about being named a Fellow.

Fellows are elected by the AAAS Council for their extraordinary contributions to their work in science, technology, engineering or mathematics. This tradition goes back to 1874. Fellows of the past have included Thomas Edison, W.E.B DuBois, Maria Mitchell, Steven Chu, Ellen Ochoa and Irwin M. Jacobs.

Nominees come from academia, industry and the nonprofit sector and they represent a wide variety of career stages, from recent graduates to those who have retired. Undergraduate students can apply for the AAAS Mass Media Science & Engineering Fellows Program.

Status as an AAAS Fellow is a lifetime honor.

“I congratulate Drs. Genzer and Walton on their election to AAAS Fellows,” Pfaendtner said. “As a fellow chemical engineer, I find their groundbreaking research contributions especially inspiring.

“I am honored to be part of the same class as two of my colleagues, as well as to be among the five elected AAAS Fellows from our Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in the last three years,” he added. “This impressive trend in our CBE department reflects the excellence I see every day in our research here at NC State University’s College of Engineering.”

There have been five AAAS Fellows from CBE in the last three years, and the department has 11 AAAS Fellows total.