UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Four Penn State faculty members in the biological sciences, engineering and statistics have been elected to the latest cohort of fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. This year, AAAS recognized 449 scientists, engineers and innovators with this lifetime honor for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements. They join a distinguished group of more than 300 Penn State researchers who have been elected fellows since 1906.
“Drs. Seth Bordenstein, Francesca Chiaromonte, Jason Rasgon and Qiming Zhang are highly deserving of this recognition as AAAS fellows,” said Andrew Read, senior vice president for research at Penn State. “Not only have they made exceptional scientific achievements, but they also have demonstrated a deep commitment to advancing knowledge and improving lives. They each exemplify the best of Penn State’s research enterprise, working at the leading-edge of discovery, mentoring the next generation of scientists and driving innovation with global impact.”
Fellows were elected in 2025 and will be honored in 2026. They will receive a certificate and a gold and blue rosette pin to commemorate their election and will be celebrated at a forum in Washington, D.C., in May. The 2025 fellows class also will be featured in the AAAS “News & Notes” section in this April’s issue of the journal Science. Fellows from Penn State and their recognized contributions are:
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Seth Bordenstein, professor of biology and of entomology, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Endowed Chair in Microbiome Sciences, and director of the One Health Microbiome Center, for “distinguished contributions to the microbiome sciences, particularly for advancing our knowledge of host-associated microbiomes across the animal kingdom”
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Francesca Chiaromonte, professor of statistics, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Statistics for the Life Sciences, for “distinguished contributions to the field of statistics, the development of methods for the analysis of large, complex and structured data, and their application in the biomedical and social sciences”
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Jason Rasgon, professor of disease epidemiology, and Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Endowed Chair in Disease Epidemiology and Biotechnology, for “distinguished contributions to the field of molecular entomology, particularly the development of in vivo germline genetic modification technologies and insights into Wolbachia-based disease control"
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Qiming Zhang, Harvey F. Brush Chair and distinguished professor of electrical engineering, for “distinguished contributions to the field of electroactive polymers, particularly for inventions of relaxor ferroelectric polymers, using them for electrocaloric and elecromechanical applications”
Penn State ranks among the top 26 U.S. research universities and is one of only two institutions in the nation accorded land-grant, sea-grant, sun-grant and space-grant status. This year’s fellows represent the College of Agricultural Sciences, the Eberly College of Science, the College of Engineering and the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.