School of Biological Sciences Professor Andrew Storfer has been elected an AAAS Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Storfer joins a global cohort of 471 scientists and engineers elected as Fellows for 2024 announced last month. The cohort is an international pool of scientists, engineers, and innovators receiving recognition for each’s achievement across various disciplines in promoting the scientific field and practice.
Storfer is honored for his distinguished contributions to the field of evolutionary biology, particularly for developing the theoretical foundation of landscape genetics and its application to coevolution and conservation biology.
“This year’s class of Fellows are the embodiment of scientific excellence and service to our communities,” said Sudip S. Parikh, PhD, AAAS chief executive officer and executive publisher of the Science family of journals. “At a time when the future of the scientific enterprise in the U.S. and around the world is uncertain, their work demonstrates the value of sustained investment in science and engineering.”
A lifetime honor, the new Fellows will commemorate their election in Washington, D.C. on June 7. This is the 151st anniversary of the AAAS lifetime achievement recognition.
“I am humbled and honored to have received this recognition, and I will continue my dedicated efforts to help improve the global health of animals and humans,” said Storfer.
Storfer, who has a Ph.D in biology, has been at WSU since 2001 and is an Eastlick Distinguished Professor. He develops and employs tools in spatial genomics to study infectious diseases, such as a transmissible cancer in Tasmanian devils.
Storfer’s work has resulted in pioneering efforts in demonstrating the genomic-basis of host-pathogen coevolution, use of phylodynamics analyses to study the evolution of virulence and transmissibility of infectious diseases, and even how declines in a top predator can have ripple effects on evolutionary and population genetic structure of other species in its biological community.
As the Tasmanian devil transmissible cancer evolves nearly identically to human cancer, work in the Storfer lab has led to a promising new candidate therapy for human colorectal cancer treatment. Many of the modern medicines and biomedical treatments used today are actually developed from discoveries made in plants and animals. Storfer is driven to continue to use his research to help predict and manage the future health of the world’s animals and humans.
AAAS exists to “advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people.”
