The American Association for the Advancement of Science will recognize Professor of Biology Osvaldo Sala for his contribution to the biological sciences at the society's annual meeting Feb. 20.
Sala was one of 531 fellows elected to the association last November. He is also currently an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Secretary General of the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment.
"It's definitely a source of prestige for Brown," Sala said about his election. "But I'm just very happy about it. It's great."
Despite his election, Sala does not plan on attending the award ceremony in San Diego.
"He's a very humble man and is always winning awards left and right, so it didn't seem like a big deal," said Shane Easter '10, an undergraduate working in his lab.
Sala has been at Brown since 2005 and currently teaches two courses on ecosystem and conservation biology. His interests in ecology include global change issues that focus on the function of ecosystems and ecosystem-water dynamics, he said.
Currently, he is researching precipitation controls of carbon and nitrogen cycles of plants in arid and semiarid ecosystems, a project he started in 2006, he said. To conduct his study, Sala and his team travel to a research site in New Mexico, where they use rain-out shelters — huge roofs to protect land from rain — to manipulate incoming rainfall on different areas of vegetation.
The association, founded in 1848, is the largest international scientific society, according to its Web site, and it publishes the journal Science. It has been electing fellows since 1874.
After being nominated by peers, fellows undergo rigorous review by the association's steering groups for their disciplines. The nominees are then presented to the association Council for election. The list of fellows was published in the Dec. 18 issue of Science.
