Colorado State Chemistry Professor Named Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science

A Colorado State University chemistry professor recently was named a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest scientific society.

Branka M. Ladanyi was honored for what the AAAS called her "groundbreaking work in the theory and modeling of the dynamics and structure of liquids, supercritical liquids and molecular clusters."

"It’s a major recognition," said Ladanyi, who has been at Colorado State for 25 years. "It’s a sign that my peers recognize my contributions."

Ladanyi’s research interest is theoretical physical chemistry. She uses computations to model chemical events, starting at the molecular level. Her work is focused primarily on modeling chemical reactions in the liquid state, which is how they are usually carried out in the laboratory and how they often occur in the environment, for example, in groundwater and sea salt aerosols.

In addition to being the world’s largest general scientific society, the AAAS is the publisher of the journal, "Science." It was founded in 1848 and serves 10 million people through 262 affiliated societies and academies of science.

AAAS Fellows are nominated by other Fellows, the organization’s Steering Group for each scientific discipline or the chief executive officer. New Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering) rosette pin on Feb. 19 in Washington, D.C.

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