CCST Director of Programs Named AAAS Fellow

Donna Gerardi Riordan, Director of Programs at the California Council on Science and Technology, has been awarded the distinction of Fellow by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

This year 449 members have been awarded this honor by AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. This year’s AAAS Fellows were announced in the AAAS News & Notes section of the journal Science on 24 November 2006.

As part of the General Interest in Science and Engineering section, Riordan was elected as an AAAS Fellow for leadership in and significant contributions to science policy, public understanding of science, and science education at the state, national and international levels.

“For nearly 20 years, I’ve played a behind-the-scenes role on a variety of science, education and communications issues,” said Riordan. “To receive this kind of recognition is incredibly gratifying.”

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (www.sciencemag.org). AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS works to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more. The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874.

The new Fellows will be formally acknowledged on February 17 at the Fellows Forum during the 2007 AAAS Annual Meeting in San Francisco.