Two University of Notre Dame engineering faculty members have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), one of the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific societies.
Danny Chen, professor of computer science and engineering, and Joshua Shrout, professor of civil and environmental engineering and earth sciences, were recognized for distinguished contributions to their fields.
With members in more than 90 countries, AAAS publishes the Science family of journals and honors scientists, engineers and innovators whose work advances knowledge and serves society.
“From developing algorithms that enhance life-saving medical imaging to uncovering the mechanisms at work in microbial biofilms, Professors Chen and Shrout demonstrate the ways in which engineering can make significant contributions to improving public health,” said Patricia J. Culligan, the Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame.
Chen is recognized “for distinguished contributions to the field of computational bioscience, particularly in developing new algorithms for solving processing and analysis problems in biomedical imaging.” His main research areas include computational biomedicine, biomedical imaging, machine learning, data mining, computational geometry, algorithms and VLSI.
He has authored more than 500 journal articles, conference papers, and book chapters and holds eight U.S. patents in computer science, engineering, and biomedical technologies.
Chen’s honors include a National Science Foundation CAREER Award and the 2017 Cozzarelli Prize from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a distinguished scientist of the Association for Computing Machinery.
Shrout is recognized for significant contributions to our understanding of how microbes coordinate their behavior on surfaces, while training and providing a strong positive example for the next generation of interdisciplinary scientists. He holds a concurrent appointment in Notre Dame’s Department of Biological Sciences and is affiliated with the Eck Institute for Global Health, the Berthiaume Institute for Precision Health, and the Warren Center for Drug Discovery.
Shrout leads a research team that has made key discoveries in how bacteria—individually and in groups—sense and respond to environmental cues, coordinate gene expression, and function within populations. A central focus of his work is understanding how microbial communities form, particularly biofilms. Insights into biofilm development and control have significant medical implications, especially in high-risk settings such as intensive care units.
The author of more than 80 publications, he currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Bacteriology and Applied and Environmental Microbiology. His honors include an Indiana Clinical Translational Sciences Institute Young Investigator Basic Science Award and selection to serve as an associate scientific advisor for the journal Science Translational Medicine from 2012-2013.
“It is wonderful to see these scholar-teachers receive this well-deserved recognition,” said John T. McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost and Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History. “We are proud to celebrate the achievements of our distinguished colleagues whose scientific contributions help advance Notre Dame as a leading global Catholic research university.”
Chen and Shrout join 12 Notre Dame Engineering colleagues previously elected AAAS fellows: Panos Antsaklis, Kevin Bowyer (emeritus), Peter Burns, Nitesh Chawla, Patricia Culligan, Harindra Joseph Fernando, Yih-Fang Huang, Ahsan Kareem, Peter Kogge, Edward Maginn, Christine Maziar, William Schneider, and Gregory Timp.
AAAS Fellows have been elected since 1874 and include Thomas Edison, W.E.B. Du Bois, Maria Mitchell, Steven Chu, Ellen Ochoa, and Irwin M. Jacobs.
—Karla Cruise, Notre Dame Engineering