Boulder faculty members earn honors from national science association

Friedman

Bierbaum

Two University of Colorado Boulder faculty members have been elected 2010 fellows of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The new AAAS fellows are Professor William "Ned" Friedman of the ecology and evolutionary biology department and Professor Veronica Bierbaum of the chemistry and biochemistry department, the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy and JILA, a joint institute of CU-Boulder and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

According to AAAS officials, Bierbaum was honored for distinguished contributions to the field of mass spectrometry through pioneering research, innovative teaching and dedicated editorial and administrative service.

Her studies probe the kinetics, dynamics and energies of reactions fundamental to physical organic, atmospheric and interstellar chemistry. Bierbaum has served as an investigator for the National Science Foundation's Partners in Science Education grant, president of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry and associate editor of its journal.

Bierbaum also is a member of the Boulder Valley School District Scientific Review Committee and the CU Wizards Program, and is committed to the instruction and improvement of large general chemistry courses.

According to AAAS officials, Friedman was honored for important contributions to the study of angiosperm evolutionary development biology.

His research, conducted at CU-Boulder, on the reproductive biology of flowering plants has resulted in a set of discoveries that have fundamentally altered understandings of the origin and early evolution of flowering plants — what once was described by Charles Darwin as an "abominable mystery."

At CU-Boulder, Friedman taught courses in plant biodiversity and the intellectual history of evolutionary thought. This month, Friedman joined the faculty of Harvard University, where he is a professor of organismic and evolutionary biology, and director of The Arnold Arboretum.

The two new AAAS fellows join 54 active or emeritus faculty members from CU-Boulder previously elected as fellows of the science association. Their official induction will take place on Feb. 19 at the 2011 AAAS annual meeting in Washington, D.C.