Ron Shepard of the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory has been awarded the distinction of Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as a Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.
Ron Shepard, recognized for his work on computational chemistry at Argonne National Lab, was chosen to a become a AAAS Fellow.
As part of the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division at Argonne, Shepard was honored for his distinguished contributions in the field of computational and theoretical chemistry—particularly the development of new ab initio electronic structure methods.
Shepard develops methods that describe the quantum mechanical behavior of the electrons in molecular systems.
His computer codes are used to predict chemical reaction rates, branching ratios, product yields, equilibrium constants, spectroscopic constants and other properties of chemical interest for hydrocarbon combustion and atmospheric chemical reactions, particularly those involving highly reactive radical intermediates.
This year, 531 members have been named Fellows of AAAS. New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on February 20 at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2010 AAAS Annual Meeting in San Diego.
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.
Each steering group then reviews the nominations of individuals within its respective section and a final list is forwarded to the AAAS Council, which votes on the aggregate list.
The Council is the policymaking body of the association, chaired by the AAAS president, and consists of the members of the board of directors, the retiring section chairs, delegates from each electorate and each regional division and two delegates from the National Association of Academies of Science.