UO's Michael Haley and Craig Young elected as AAAS Fellows

EUGENE, Ore. -- (Dec. 7, 2011) -- University of Oregon chemist Michael Haley and marine biologist Craig Young are among 539 newly elected 2011 Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

The new fellows will be recognized for their contributions to science and technology at the Fellows Forum on Feb. 18 during the AAAS Annual Meeting in Vancouver, Canada. The new fellows will receive a certificate and a blue and gold rosette as a symbol of their distinguished accomplishments.

Michael HaleyHaley, who joined the UO faculty in 1993, currently heads the Department of Chemistry. He is a professor of organic, organometallic and materials chemistry. He also is a member of the UO Materials Science Institute. His research group explores non-natural aromatic systems, utilizing synthetic methodology for the preparation of novel organic materials and compounds of theoretical interest.

Haley earned his bachelor's and doctoral degrees in 1987 and 1991, respectively, from Rice University in Houston. He completed postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, before moving to the UO. He received a three-year National Science Foundation Career Award in 1995 and was named an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow in 2000-2001.

Craig YoungYoung, a professor of biology, is director of the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in Charleston. He studies the reproduction, larval development and ecology of marine invertebrates. Using submersibles and remotely operated vehicles, he is involved in field projects at deep methane seeps in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, in underwater canyons off the Atlantic seaboard, on an active underwater volcano near American Samoa, and off the Big Island of Hawaii. He teaches a course at the UO that uses a remotely operated vehicle to explore Oregon's continental shelf.

Young joined the UO faculty in 2002. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in 1975 and 1978, respectively, from Brigham Young University. In 1982, he earned a doctorate from the University of Alberta. He is an honorary fellow of the National Oceanographic Centre (United Kingdom) and has served as a visiting professor at institutions in Sweden and Iceland.

The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of 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.

About the University of Oregon
The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.

Media Contact: Jim Barlow, director of science and research communications, 541-346-3481, jebarlow@uoregon.edu