In elite company

As AAAS Fellows, Overtoun Jenda and Haibo Zou are in the same cadre as Nobel Prize winners and some of history’s most notable scientific figures: inventor Thomas Edison (elected in 1878), sociologist W.E.B. Dubois (1905), anthropologist Margaret Mead (1934) and astronaut Ellen Ochoa (2012).

AAAS first launched its lifetime recognition program in 1874. Fellows are a group recognized for their achievements across disciplines, from research, teaching and technology to administration in academia, industry and government, to excellence in communicating and interpreting science to the public.

Auburn’s history of AAAS Fellows started in 1892 with the induction of cotton pathologist George Atkinson. His research on what is now the “Old Rotation” led to the discovery that “cotton rust” was actually a potassium deficiency.

From its early days as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama to Alabama Polytechnic Institute and now Auburn University, more than 50 faculty members have been inducted.

These faculty include some familiar names, even if their inductions were more than a century ago: Bennett Ross (namesake of Ross Hall, 1906), John Wilmore (Wilmore Laboratories, 1915), Marion Funchess (Funchess Hall, 1924) and Donald Davis (Davis Arboretum, 1978).

Dustan Hall (named for Arthur Dunstan, 1901) and Allison Labs (Fred Allison, 1926) have been removed in recent years to make way for the Carol Ann Gavin Garden, Central Dining and the Academic Classroom and Laboratory Complex.  

More recent honorees include COSAM’s Geoff Hill and Henry “Hal” Schenck, as well as the College of Agriculture’s Art Appel.