UC Santa Cruz Coral Reef Expert Donald Potts Elected Fellow Of AAAS

SANTA CRUZ, CA–The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the country’s leading general scientific organization, has elected professor of biology Donald Potts of UC Santa Cruz to the rank of AAAS Fellow.

According to the AAAS Council, fellows are members whose "efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished." The council elected 283 new fellows this year.

A member of UCSC’s Institute of Marine Sciences, Potts was honored for his significant contributions to the ecological and evolutionary understanding of corals and reefs, to the development of marine biodiversity programs, and to international education. He received a fellowship certificate and rosette on February 15 at the AAAS annual meeting in Seattle.

Potts is a native of Scotland who grew up in Australia. He earned his Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara and taught at Bishop’s University (Quebec), Flinders University of South Australia, and the Australian National University before joining the UCSC faculty in 1977. He directs UCSC’s Education Abroad Program and coordinates the University of California’s new role as the first academic partner in the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI). He also recently became a member of the marine biodiversity working group of DIVERSITAS, the world’s largest international scientific biodiversity program.