Academy Fellows Dr TJ Higgins and Professor Toby Walsh have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Dr Higgins is an Honorary Research Fellow at CSIRO Agriculture and Food and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2016 for distinguished service to agricultural biotechnology.
A CSIRO researcher for 36 years, he served as Deputy Chief of CSIRO Plant Industry from 2000 to 2009.
Dr Higgins was elected for ‘distinguished contributions to the field of molecular plant science, particularly using gene technology to transfer useful traits to grain legumes for food security’.
Professor Walsh is an ARC Laureate Fellow and Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at UNSW and leads the Algorithmic Decision Theory group at CSIRO’s Data61.
He was elected for ‘intellectual leadership and significant contributions to automated deduction, constraint programming, and fairness in artificial intelligence’.
Professor Walsh was the 2019 Chair of Section T of AAAS, covering computer science.
“It is a great honour to join some of the best scientists around the world as a Fellow of AAAS. I especially value the work that AAAS does in promoting evidence-based policy, as well as in encouraging inclusion and diversity in science,” Professor Walsh said.
Professor Walsh is currently is the Chair of the Academy’s Data in Professional Sport project, in collaboration with Minderoo Foundation.
