Ahmed Hassanein, Paul L. Wattelet Professor and Head of the School of Nuclear Engineering has been elected for the distinction of Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Each year the AAAS elects members whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished.

In the letter notifying Prof. Hassanein of his election, Alan Leshner, president of AAAS wrote, "You are being honored for distinguished contributions to the areas of interactions of energetic beams and plasmas with materials and their evolution and lifetime for nuclear fission and fusion, high energy and nuclear physics, and advanced nanolithography applications."

The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Currently, members can be considered for the rank of Fellow if nominated by the steering groups of the Association’s 24 sections, or by any three Fellows who are current AAAS members (so long as two of the three sponsors are not affiliated with the nominee's institution), or by the AAAS chief executive officer.

Each steering group then reviews the nominations of individuals within its respective section and a final list is forwarded to the AAAS Council, which votes on the aggregate list.

The Council is the policymaking body of the association, chaired by the AAAS president, and consists of the members of the board of directors, the retiring section chairs, delegates from each electorate and each regional division and two delegates from the National Association of Academies of Science.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society and publishes the journal Science, as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals worldwide. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of one million. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, and more.