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Three Tufts faculty members have been named fellows of the , the world’s largest scientific society. They join 468 other scientists, engineers, and innovators from many scientific disciplines being recognized for their scientific achievements. 

“This year’s class of fellows are the embodiment of scientific excellence and service to our communities,” says Sudip S. Parikh, AAAS chief executive officer. “At a time when the future of the scientific enterprise in the U.S. and around the world is uncertain, their work demonstrates the value of sustained investment in science and engineering.”

Founded in 1848, the AAAS publishes Science, Science Translational Medicine, Science Signaling, and other journals. The nonprofit seeks to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education, and more.

This year’s fellows from Tufts are , A92, Vannevar Bush Professor of Biology in the School of Arts and Sciences; , professor in the Division of Nutrition Epidemiology and Data Science and director of the Tufts Initiative for Forecasting and Modeling of Infectious Diseases (InForMID) in the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy; and , Karol Family Applied Technology Professor in Computer Science and director of the Human-Robot Interaction Lab. They join 17 other current Tufts faculty as fellows of the AAAS.

“We take great pride in our faculty for receiving this prestigious recognition for their research—a testament to their excellence and the distinguished reputation of Tufts,” says Bernard Arulanandam, vice provost for research at Tufts and a 2016 AAAS Fellow.

Michael Levin, Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biology and director of the  at Tufts, seeks to understand the mechanisms that underlie cell growth and tissue formation, focusing on the role of bioelectricity in the process, with the goal of creating new frontiers of regenerative medicine. Applications include fighting cancer, reversing degenerative diseases, repairing congenital anomalies, and ultimately even regrowing limbs.

He studies bioelectrical signals, which are part of how cells communicate, and uses machine learning and AI to further understand how organisms grow. “We don’t want to try to tell every cell and every gene what to do,” Levin says. “We’re not looking to teach cells how to grow a leg; we’re looking to convince them that that’s what they should do.”

Levin’s lab created living robots called  from frog embryonic stem cells, and later made what they called  from human tracheal cells that were found to move across a surface and even encouraged the repair of neurons in a lab dish.

“Bioelectricity is the cognitive glue that binds individual neurons’ activity into a mind. Likewise, it binds other body cells into a collective intelligence that navigates the space of anatomical possibilities,” says Levin. “We are learning to communicate with that intelligence, to rewrite its memories, and thus to control growth and form by collaboration, not micromanagement. Our work impacts not only regenerative medicine but bioengineering, AI, and philosophy of mind.” 

Elena Naumova focuses her research on emerging and re-emerging diseases, environmental epidemiology, molecular biology, and nutrition. She develops analytical tools for data analysis over time and space, applying it to disease surveillance and exposure assessment.  

She also creates and applies analytical tools to evaluate the influence of extreme events (like natural disasters and pandemics) and intermediate events (like heatwaves and seasonal flu outbreaks) to discover their spatial and temporal patterns and create ways to anticipate future events and minimize their harmful health effects by building resilient communities. 

Naumova studies the spread of infections that are sensitive to climate variations and extreme weather events using a wide variety of data sources, including remote sensing data and satellite imagery, seeking to understand the nature and causes of diseases on local and global scales. In 2022, she was named as a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Scientific Advisory Board.

“I am deeply honored to be named a fellow of the AAAS,” says Naumova. “This recognition reflects the collective spirit of my colleagues, students, and staff, whose dedication has made Tufts a place I am proud to call home for nearly 30 years—a community where we strive to nurture curiosity, embrace diverse perspectives, uphold academic freedom, and pursue science with lasting social impact.”

Matthias Scheutz, a professor of computer science and mechanical engineering, focuses on artificial intelligence, cognitive modeling, human-robot interaction, and natural language understanding. 

At the  that Scheutz directs, he and his students are working on developing a complex AI control system for intelligent autonomous robots that can quickly learn new tasks from human instructions and observations. Critically, the lab focuses on imbuing the robots with rudimentary ethical competence that enables them to learn and obey human norms in all of their actions, including social interactions in everyday settings.

One example of the outcomes of his research is a patent Scheutz received for a system and method for ensuring safe, norm-conforming, and ethical behavior of intelligent systems. The system would generate a clone of a robot’s operating system and run simulated tests of certain behaviors. If the robot passed the norms standards in the testing, it would be allowed to continue operating in the real-world environment. But if it failed the standards test, the system could override the robot’s intended actions or even shut it down.

“Today is more important than ever that we in academia push back against the premature technology deployment we are witnessing with large tech corporations,” says Scheutz. “While artificial intelligence is a powerful tool to improve the human condition, it can also have detrimental effects. We at Tufts have been at the forefront of ethical AI and robotics, and continue to voice our concerns while also providing solutions that are workable, safe and ethical.”