Human augmentation researchers selected as 2019-2020 AAAS Leshner Fellows

WASHINGTON — AAAS is pleased to announce the selection of the 2019-2020 AAAS Leshner Public Engagement Fellows. Each year the AAAS Alan I. Leshner Leadership Institute for Public Engagement with Science addresses topics at the intersection of science of society, convening researchers who demonstrated leadership and excellence in their research careers and interest in promoting meaningful dialogue between science and society. The 10 scientists and engineers selected this year work in the field of human augmentation, studying technologies that attempt to temporarily or permanently change the capabilities of the human body.

A reception will be held on Thursday, February 14 at 4:30 p.m. at the 2019 AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. to welcome the new AAAS Leshner Public Engagement Fellows. The fellows attending the reception include Tracey du Laney, Samira Kiani and Oge Marques. Fellows from previous years will also be attending.

The incoming AAAS Leshner Public Engagement Fellows will convene this June at AAAS headquarters in Washington for a week of intensive public engagement and science communication training, networking and public engagement plan development. The fellows will return to their institutions with resources and connections to develop, implement and evaluate their public engagement activities, opportunities for training other scientists in their communities and increased capacity for public engagement leadership. AAAS staff will provide ongoing support and continuing professional development throughout the fellowship year.

The 2019-2020 AAAS Public Engagement Fellows are:

• Tracey du Laney, Ph.D., director of science and technology development, North Carolina Biotechnology Center

• Kafui Dzirasa, Ph.D., M.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Duke University

• Samira Kiani, M.D., assistant professor of biological and health systems engineering, Arizona State University

• Aaron Levine, Ph.D., associate professor of public policy, Georgia Institute of Technology

• Christopher D. Lynn, Ph.D., associate professor of anthropology, University of Alabama

• Oge Marques, Ph.D., professor of computer science and engineering, Florida Atlantic University

• Jin Kim Montclare, Ph.D., professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, New York University

• Robert Riener, Ph.D., professor for sensory-motor systems, ETH Zurich

• Leia Stirling, Ph.D., assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Bill Wuest, Ph.D., distinguished investigator and associate professor of chemistry, Emory University

More information on the fellows can be found here.

The AAAS Leshner Public Engagement Fellows program, now in its fourth year, continues to build on the long-standing commitment of AAAS to science communication and public engagement through its support of these fellows.

The Leshner Leadership Institute is wholly supported by philanthropic donations. The Institute is managed by the AAAS Center for Public Engagement with Science and Technology, established in 2004 by Alan I. Leshner, now Chief Executive Officer Emeritus of AAAS.

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The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science, as well as Science Translational Medicine; Science Signaling; a digital, open-access journal, Science Advances; Science Immunology; and Science Robotics. AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes more than 250 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. The nonprofit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, public engagement and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society, dedicated to “Advancing science; Serving society.”