BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Three faculty members from Indiana University have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a distinction that recognizes outstanding contributions to the progress of science and research. This year’s honorees also include eight IU alumni.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="296.0"] William F. Carroll Jr. | Photo by Indiana University[/caption]

The 2015 fellows who are IU faculty are William F. Carroll Jr., adjunct professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Chemistry; Armin P. Moczek, professor in the College's Department of Biology; and Richard R. Wilk, Distinguished Professor and Provost's Professor of Anthropology in the College's Department of Anthropology.

The three faculty members' election brings the number of AAAS fellows affiliated with IU to 92.

"These three outstanding scholars share a strong commitment to helping our students and the academic community at large better understand the workings of the world around us," said IU President Michael A. McRobbie. "Together they are contributing to our knowledge of some of the most important issues affecting the development and preservation of our planet, including our evolution, our economic behaviors and the sustainability of our natural resources. These honors reflect the quality of our faculty and their continued pursuit of Indiana University's core mission of excellence in education and research."

The fellows will be formally announced in the AAAS News & Notes section of the Nov. 27 issue of the journal Science.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="296.0"] Armin P. Moczek | Photo by Indiana University[/caption]

Election as a fellow is an honor bestowed upon association members by their peers. The AAAS citations of merit for the IU fellows read as follows:

• Carroll -- For distinguished advocacy on behalf of the profession and professionals of chemistry.
• Moczek -- For distinguished contributions to the discipline of evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo), the study of insect evolution and extraordinary communication of biology to the public.
• Wilk -- For distinguished contributions to anthropology, especially innovative research in economic anthropology that has been highly influential in both sociocultural anthropology and archaeology.

Carroll is a retired vice president at Occidental Chemical Corp. and past president and board chair and current board member of the American Chemical Society. A recipient of the IU Distinguished Alumni Service Award, he has spent a career working to advance the success of individual chemists and encourage a climate of business and innovation in the chemistry industry through engagement in professional societies, trade organizations and government. At IU, he leads one-on-one and workshop-based career counseling for graduate and postdoctoral students, and he previously taught a course on polymer chemistry.

Carroll is also involved in sustainability and science policy, and he has served as an expert on groups commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and three U.S. states. He is the holder of two patents.

Moczek is an internationally recognized expert on evolutionary developmental biology who studies the mechanisms that facilitate the evolutionary origin of complex traits using insects as model systems, such as the extravagant horns found in beetles or the bioluminescent organs found in fireflies. Since joining the IU faculty in 2004, he has been the primary or co-primary investigator on more than $4.5 million in funding from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Eli Lilly Foundation, U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation and IU.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="296.0"] Richard R. Wilk | Photo by Indiana University[/caption]

An advocate for science education and outreach, Moczek co-directs the Jim Holland Summer Science Research Program and the Jim Holland Summer Enrichment Program, recently secured funding for the upcoming Research Initiative in STEM Education at IU Bloomington, and develops K-12 curriculum in collaboration with the IU Bloomington School of Education and the WonderLab Museum in Bloomington, Ind.

Wilk is a scholar on the subjects of sustainability, food, globalization and the rights of native people. He is the author of four books -- "The Anthropology of Everyday Life," "Home Cooking in the Global Village" and two publications on the native people of Belize -- as well as more than 160 research papers and book chapters, a textbook on economic anthropology, and 14 edited volumes. His research in Belize, the U.S. and West Africa has been supported by two Fulbright fellowships, the Mellon Foundation, and grants from the National Science Foundation and other organizations, including IU.

Wilk has also served as a member of the American Anthropological Association's Global Climate Change Task Force and as a consultant to multiple native-rights organizations and USAID programs in Central America.

IU alumni named 2015 AAAS fellows are Barry Aprison of the University of Chicago, Gen-Seng Feng of the University of California at San Diego, Watson M. Laetsch of the University of California at Berkeley, Dennis L. Lichtenberger of the University of Arizona, Reinhard C. Laubenbacher of the University of Connecticut, Ellen K. Pikitch of Stony Brook University, J. Donald Rimstidt of Virginia Tech and G. Philip Robertson of Michigan State University.

The new fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold-and-blue rosette pin on Feb. 13 at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2016 AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. The IU recipients are among the 347 new fellows to join the AAAS this year.

The tradition of AAAS fellows began in 1874. Members may be nominated for the honor by the steering groups of the association's 24 sections, by any three fellows who are current AAAS members or by the AAAS chief executive officer.