Five USC scientists and one Keck School of Medicine of USC physician have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an honor awarded to AAAS members by their peers.

Founded in 1848, the nonprofit organization is the world’s largest general scientific society. The group began the AAAS Fellows tradition in 1874 and publishes the journal Science.

This year 396 members will be named fellows because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. The USC fellows are:

David Warburton, a professor of pediatrics and surgery at the Keck School of Medicine, for contributions to the field of pediatric medicine, particularly for work on lung development as it relates to maternal and infant health. Warburton is a world leader in global child health and regenerative medicine. He is a physician scientist who leads the Developmental Biology, Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Program at the Saban Research Institute, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Warburton is a member of the USC Stem Cell Executive Committee.

Xiaojiang Chen, a professor of biological sciences and chemistry at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Science, for contributions to the field of structural molecular biology, particularly for understanding viral and cellular DNA replication and genomic mutations. Chen’s lab answers important questions in cancer biology and immunology.

Karl Christe, a research professor of chemistry at USC Dornsife, for contributions to the field of synthetic inorganic chemistry, particularly in high-energy density materials. His research goal is to advance the state of the art. His lab strives for spectacular breakthroughs rather than settle for incremental improvements.

Petros Ioannou, the A.V. “Bal” Balakrishnan Professor of Electrical Engineering-Systems at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, for his contributions to adaptive control and intelligent transportation systems. He is the director of the Center of Advanced Transportation Technologies at USC and the associate director for research of METRANS, a University Transportation Center whose mission is to solve transportation problems in metropolitan regions. Ioannou’s research interests include control and applications, vehicle dynamics and safety, and intelligent transportation systems.

Sven Koenig, a professor of computer science at USC Viterbi, for his contributions to the field of artificial intelligence, particularly planning, decision-making and coordination for robots and other situated agents. Koenig is interested in intelligent systems such as multi-agent and multi-robot systems that operate in large, non-deterministic, non-stationary or only partially known domains.

Paul Rosenbloom, a professor of computer science at USC Viterbi, for “seminal contributions to cognitive architectures and leadership in the artificial intelligence community.” Rosenbloom is director for cognitive architecture research at USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies. His focus is on the mechanisms that enable thought and how they combine to yield minds.

The new fellows will be presented with a certificate and a gold and blue rosette pin representing science and engineering on Feb. 17 at the 2018 AAAS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas.