Vice Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Economic Development Gillian Wilson has been named a 2024 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the Science family of journals.
Being elected an AAAS Fellow is one of the most prestigious honors awarded by the association. Wilson is one of only eight astronomers honored this year.
“Being named an AAAS Fellow is one of the highlights of my career,” Wilson said. “I'm deeply honored to receive this recognition by my peers, especially in a tradition stretching back more than 150 years.”
The AAAS Fellows program was established in 1874. It recognizes individuals whose efforts to advance science or its applications have been deemed scientifically or socially distinguished by their peers. Fellows are selected from a broad range of disciplines — from biology and physics to engineering, education and public policy. The honor reflects a career of impactful contributions to research, leadership and service to the scientific community.
“We are proud to celebrate Gillian Wilson on this high distinction, which reflects her contributions to the sciences and commitment to advancing knowledge and inspiring the next generation of scholars,” UC Merced Chancellor Juan Sánchez Muñoz said. “Her dedication to research and education embodies the excellence that defines our university community.”
Wilson is one of 471 scientists nationwide to receive this honor this year, a distinguished lifetime recognition within the scientific community. The 2024 class comprises engineers and innovators across 24 AAAS disciplinary sections.
“This year’s class of Fellows embody scientific excellence and service to our communities,” said Sudip S. Parikh, AAAS chief executive officer.
According to the 2024 AAAS Fellows press release, Wilson was named a fellow “for distinguished leadership in the study of galaxy evolution and cosmology, and for promoting STEM careers.”
“I’ve always been committed to outreach. I enjoy it, but I think it’s also our responsibility to explain our work,” Wilson said. “I think it's important to be visible not only as role models but to talk about the pathways students in California can have to higher education.”
Between astronomy workshops for K-12 schools, efforts to attract women and minorities into STEM fields and opportunities to bring science to the public, Wilson’s outreach efforts have touched more than 50,000 people.
“Ever since I was in my first faculty position, I have endeavored to spend time at elementary, middle and high schools talking about the kind of science I do, but also what it means to be a professional scientist,” she said.
While on faculty at UC Riverside, she worked on various projects with undergraduate students including an experimental play based on the folklore of astronomy and archeo-astronomical research of the Orion constellation among multiple ancient civilizations, and an original musical piece written and performed by a student based on supercomputer simulations of the impending collision between the Andromeda, Milky Way and Triangulum galaxies, which will happen in 4 billion years.
She and colleagues also facilitated an amateur astrophotography competition funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The entries were displayed at the UC Riverside library, local schools and museums. She said she would like to replicate the competition at UC Merced because she could imagine the beautiful astrophotography people could capture in the San Joaquin Valley, with its vast open skies, places with little to no light pollution, and the Sierra Nevada to add to the frames.
Wilson joined UC Merced in 2022 and is a professor in the Department of Physics. Her research interests include galaxy evolution, clusters of galaxies and observational cosmology. Wilson leads several large international astronomy collaborations, and her work has resulted in more than 130 refereed publications and more than $12 million in extramural funding and telescope time.
Wilson was named a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2021 and a fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2023.
The new fellows will each receive a certificate and a gold and blue rosette pin (representing science and engineering, respectively) to commemorate their election and will be celebrated at a forum in Washington, D.C., on June 7.
