鈥淭hese individuals have been elevated to this rank because of their efforts toward advancing science applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished,鈥� according to the AAAS.

麻豆原创鈥檚 recipients are:

The 麻豆原创 recipients said they were honored and humbled.

鈥淚t is gratifying to have your scientific contributions recognized by your peers,鈥� said Chase, the chair of the anthropology department. 鈥淔or Anthropology, this is one of the few truly聽national-level honors that is available to our discipline.鈥�

Others said they were thrilled to see so many 麻豆原创 faculty members honored.

鈥淚 am very proud and honored to be named a Fellow of AAAS and to join with colleagues from 麻豆原创 who are sharing in this status,鈥� said Hancock a Pegasus professor of psychology with appointments to the Institute for Simulation & Training, the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Industrial Engineering. 鈥淚 think it is a mark of the growing prestige of our institution that we have a 鈥榗lass鈥� of this size.鈥�

A total of 702 fellows were named including 28 from Florida institutions. New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin during the 2013 AAAS annual meeting in Boston on Feb. 16.

The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Currently, members can be considered for the rank of Fellow if nominated by the steering group of their respective sections, by three Fellows, or by the association’s chief executive officer. Each steering group then reviews the nominations of individuals within its respective section and forwards a final list to the AAAS Council.

The AAAS Council votes on the final aggregate list.聽The council is the policymaking body of the association, chaired by the president, and consisting 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 team won the $100K ACC Clean Energy Challenge, a competition of student business plans for companies focused on renewable energy and other “green” energy solutions. 麻豆原创’s team bested nine other southeastern regional finalists, including teams from Georgia Tech, Duke and the University of Virginia.

The 麻豆原创 team will now compete in the National Clean Energy Business Plan Finals in Washington, D.C. June 12-13.

Their winning business plan for a start-up company, Mesdi Systems, Inc., founded by Brandon Lojewski, a graduate student in 麻豆原创’s Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering (MMAE), centers on the use of electrospray technology to vastly improve the manufacturing process for making lithium ion batteries and other products to ultimately reduce production costs and increase product life. For example, an electric car battery made with the 麻豆原创 process would be able to travel for hundreds of miles on a single charge.

Many products and parts, such as solar cells and batteries, are made with coatings or particles that require materials to be uniformly distributed, or sprayed, during the manufacturing process. The technology that produces the spray can dramatically affect the end product. Current technology uses pressurized gas to spray the liquid resulting in large non-uniform droplets and significant manufacturing waste.

Electrospray technology uses electrical charge to create uniform, ultrafine droplets with precision control. The technology can be applied to making batteries, photovoltaic solar cells, as well as medical devices, pharmaceuticals and much more.

And 麻豆原创 is taking electrospray technology to levels never seen before, due to the pioneering research of Weiwei Deng, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at 麻豆原创. Deng is renowned for his work in “multiplexed” electrospray techniques, which use thousands of tiny spray nozzles on a single chip. The patent-pending platform results in superb droplet deposition uniformity and high throughput spray production capable of meeting manufacturing demands.

Deng is the technical adviser for Mesdi Systems. He brought the multiplexed electrospray technology from Yale University. His work is an extension of the Nobel Prize-winning electrospray work developed at Yale by the late Professor John Fenn.

“We see huge potential for this technology and the great value of student entrepreneurship,” said Suhada Jayasuriya, MMAE department chair. The MMAE department sponsored the team with $1,000 to participate in the competition.

“We plan to invest our $100,000 prize money to help raise more money to launch our production facilities, hire a highly trained staff and garner our first customers,” said Lojewski, president of Mesdi Systems.

The company’s goal is to sell the multiplexed electrospray equipment to manufacturers and offer maintenance and servicing contracts.

Mesdi Systems’ launch in 2011 was a result of competing in a similar clean energy business plan competition, Megawatt Ventures, sponsored by DOE and 麻豆原创. In that event, Mesdi Systems won $10,000 as a finalist. The winning business plan was developed from tools that Lojewski learned in Tom O’Neal’s Technology Entrepreneurship class offered by 麻豆原创’s College of Business Administration.

As part of the Obama administration鈥檚 effort to support and empower the next generation of American clean energy entrepreneurs, the Department of Energy selected the ACC Clean Energy Challenge and five additional regional competitions in the U.S. as part of its inaugural nationwide network of student-focused clean energy business plan competitions during the next three years.