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Sustainability News

ASU Now | November 27, 2019

America Association for the Advancement of Science logoFour out of the seven Arizona State University professors recently named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) were sustainability scientists in the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability.

Sander van der Leeuw, C. Michael Barton, Gary Marchant and Charles Perrings were all chosen in recognition of their career contributions to science, innovation or socially distinguished efforts to advance science and its applications. To be named a fellow is an honor awarded for contributions to a specific field.

Sander van der Leeuw is a foundation professor of the School of Sustainability, the founding director of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change and the 2012 United Nations Champion of the Earth for Science and Innovation. He was elected for his outstanding contributions to the application of adaptive complex system theory in anthropology and the emerging field of sustainability.

C. Michael Barton is a professor of anthropology and the director of the Center for Social Dynamics and Complexity in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change. He was elected for his distinguished contributions to the field of anthropology (geoarchaeology), particularly using data science and computational modeling to study the long term dynamic interactions of people and the environment.

Gary Marchant, a Regents Professor of law and faculty director of the Center for Law, Science and Innovation, was elected for distinguished contributions to research, teaching and outreach at the intersections of law, science and biotechnology, including important work with legislative, executive and judicial groups.

Charles Perrings is a professor in the School of Life Sciences and an affiliated faculty in the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes who was elected for his distinguished contributions to our understanding of the interactions between economic behavior and ecological processes.

The other three ASU professors elected as AAAS Fellows this year are Julian J.L. Chen, Emilia P. Martins and Hao Yan. With the addition of these seven professors, ASU now has 81 AAAS fellows associated with the school.