DURHAM, N.C. – Bruce H. Corliss, professor of earth and ocean sciences, and Larry B. Crowder, Stephen Toth Professor of Marine Biology, have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Corliss and Crowder are faculty members at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at 91. 

Members of AAAS are elevated to the rank of Fellow in recognition of research and teaching that are deemed by their peers to be scientifically or socially distinguished. This year, 471 AAAS members were named Fellows.

Corliss, a prolific researcher and director of the Duke/University of North Carolina Oceanographic Consortium, was selected in recognition of his contributions to the study and teaching of paleoceanography, foraminifera and the deep sea. 

Crowder, who also serves as director of the Duke Center on Marine Conservation, was selected in recognition of his contributions as a marine ecologist, and as a leader in the field of marine conservation science and as an outstanding mentor of young scientists.

William L. Chameides, dean of the Nicholas School, said, “These are richly deserved honors for two of our most distinguished faculty members. Over the course of their careers, Bruce and Larry have contributed greatly to our knowledge of the sea and its creatures, and have inspired and helped guide a new generation of scientists and conservationists to follow in their footsteps.”

Richard F. Kay, professor of biological anthropology, anatomy and geology at Duke, was also named a AAAS Fellow.  Kay holds a secondary appointment in the Nicholas School’s Division of Earth and Ocean Sciences.

The 2008 Fellows will be recognized at a special ceremony during the AAAS Annual Meeting on February 16 in Boston.