OLYMPIA, Wash. – Three Washington State University scientists have been elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences, the scientific organization established to offer advice on science policy in the state.
They will join 24 others from around the state when they are inducted during the academy’s fifth annual meeting in Seattle in September.
The new WSU members are:
• K.W. Hipps, professor of chemistry, materials science and engineering, and chair of the Department of Chemistry.He is an Alfred P. Sloan fellow and fellow of the American Chemical Society, the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Hipps studies the basic chemical and physical processes and structures that occur on surfaces, in interfaces and that relate to nanoparticles. His research spans the disciplines of chemistry, physics, materials science and nanotechnology.
• Robert Ritter, professor of neurosciences and physiology.Ritter has twice received Fogarty Senior International Research fellowships and was an NIH Jacob Javits Neuroscience Investigator 1991-1998.
His principal research focus has been on the control of food intake and body weight, but he has also contributed to research in other areas, including environmental factors that cause death among cattle. His research on the control of food intake and body weight is funded by the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke and by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
• Michael Smerdon, regents professor of biochemistry and biophysics with the School of Molecular Biosciences.He is a fellow of the America Association for the Advancement of Science, WSU Eminent Faculty Award recipient and past Edward R. Meyer Distinguished Professor.
Smerdon was one of the first scientists to study the relationship between DNA repair and DNA packaging in cells, an important mechanism for preventing cancer. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has recognized his research with two long-standing grant awards, for 36 and 28 years, including an NIH Research Career Development Award (1982-1987) and NIH Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) award (2001-2011).
The Washington State Academy of Sciences provides expert scientific and engineering analysis to inform public policy-making and works to increase the role and visibility of science in the state of Washington.
Additional information about the academy and its members is available online at http://www.washacad.org/.
Contact:
Robert Strenge, WSU News, 509-335-3583, rstrenge@wsu.edu
Mary McDonough, Washington State Academy of Sciences, 360-534-2321, sherri.willoughby@wsu.edu