Dianna Padilla Elected AAAS Fellow
A professor of Ecology and Evolution, Padilla elected for distinguished contributions to aquatic invasion ecology
Stony Brook, NY, November 25, 2013–Dianna Padilla, Ph.D., Stony Brook University Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution, was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for her scientific and social efforts to advance science or its applications.
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| Here, Dr. Dianna Padilla conducts her field research. |
Dr. Padilla was elected for distinguished work in marine and freshwater ecology, particularly in aquatic invasion ecology and the role of phenotypic plasticity in plant herbivore interactions.
“It is an honor to be recognized by peers for the body of work my students and I have produced,” said Dr. Padilla. “Hopefully this recognition will encourage more young students to pursue careers in this area of science.”
Dr. Padilla is among 388 newly elected members who will be honored at the Fellows Forum held during the national meeting for the AAAS being held February 15, 2014 in Chicago. All Fellows receive a certificate and a blue and gold rosette pin as a symbol of their distinguished accomplishments.
Dr. Padilla’s research interests include marine and freshwater ecology, conservation biology and restoration; invasion biology and the patterns of spread and impacts of invading species in freshwater and marine ecosystems; functional ecology including studies of phenotypic plasticity, inducible defenses and offenses; and impacts of environmental change on marine ecosystems, including impacts on early life stages of animals and species interactions.
Dr. Padilla is also an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow, which works through the Ecological Society of America.
She has been very active in working with others to identify and articulate the Grand Challenges of organismal biology for the 21st century and developing a research agenda to address those important Grand Challenge questions.
Dr. Padilla is also engaged in mentoring young students in research, including high school students from Brentwood High School. Many of these research students have received national and international recognition for their research.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (www.sciencemag.org) as well as Science Translational Medicine (www.sciencetranslationalmedicine.org) and Science Signaling (www.sciencesignaling.org). AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, and more.
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. Fellows must have been continuous members of AAAS for four years by the end of the calendar year in which they are elected.
Part of the State University of New York system, Stony Brook University encompasses 200 buildings on 1,450 acres. Since welcoming its first incoming class in 1957, the University has grown tremendously, now with more than 24,000 students and 2,200 faculty. Its membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU) places Stony Brook among the top 62 research institutions in North America. U.S. News & World Report ranks Stony Brook among the top 40 public universities in the nation and Kiplinger named it the 22nd best value in public colleges for in-state students and 9th for out-of-state students. One of four University Center campuses in the SUNY system, Stony Brook University co-manages Brookhaven National Laboratory, putting it in an elite group of universities that run federal research and development laboratories. As the largest single-site employer on Long Island, Stony Brook is a driving force of the regional economy, with an annual economic impact of $4.65 billion, generating nearly 60,000 jobs, and accounts for nearly 4% of all economic activity in Nassau and Suffolk counties, and roughly 7.5 percent of total jobs in Suffolk County.
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