Four Rutgers scholars are among 471 scientists the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has elevated to the rank of fellow. The pre-eminent U.S. scientific organization selects fellows based on their efforts in advancing science or fostering applications considered scientifically or socially distinguished. The new Rutgers fellows, three from the School of Arts and Sciences and one from the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, will be presented with an official certificate and a gold rosette pin February 16, at the Fellows Forum during the 2008 AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston.

These four new AAAS fellows join 33 previous Rutgers fellows:

Philip Furmanski is executive vice president for Academic Affairs at Rutgers. He oversees a number of areas including undergraduate and graduate education, research, budget, financial aid and student affairs. Furmanski was cited “for his fundamental research in cancer cell biology, especially tumor virology, hematopoiesis, and lactoferrin function, as well as distinguished academic leadership at New York University and Rutgers University.”

Jay Tischfield is the Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Professor and chair of the Department of Genetics, and scientific director of the Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository. He also serves as professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. A well-known authority in the field of medical genetics, Tischfield was cited “for research and leadership in human genetics, especially with respect to understanding the genetic correlates of addictions.”

Barbara Zilinskas is a professor in SEBS’ Department of Plant Biology and Pathology and serves as the Biotechnology Undergraduate Curriculum Coordinator. Zilinskas conducts research in two areas – the molecular and physiological responses of plants to environmental stress, and turfgrass improvement through genetic modification. Zilinskas was cited “for basic research in photosynthesis and for outstanding teaching and program development in biotechnology.

Mark Baker is a professor in the Department of Linguistics and a member of Rutgers’ Center for Cognitive Science. He is an authority on Native American and African languages and has written about the properties of language that contributed to the success of the Navajo Code Talkers during World War II as well as implications of linguistics for the study of the human mind. Baker has worked on the Mohawk language for several years, also serving as a consultant on language revitalization for the Mohawk. Working within generative grammar, Baker has written several important books about the formal analysis of languages with particularly intricate word structures.

Baker was cited “for innovative approaches to theories of language variation and for the study of a wide range of little-known languages and their morphological properties.”

Founded in 1848, the tradition of selecting AAAS fellows began in 1874. AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society and works to advance science for human well-being through its projects, programs and publications. Its prestigious peer reviewed journal Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million.