John H. Lienhard, the Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Water and Food and the director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS), has been elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

The award recognizes Professor Lienhard’s lifetime body of work and places him alongside previous winners including Thomas Edison (1878), Linus Pauling (1939) and Grace Hopper (1963). Four of the 2018 Nobel Prize laureates – James Allison, Arthur Ashkin, Frances Arnold and George Smith – are AAAS-elected fellows.

Professor Lienhard, who has been recognized by AAAS for his work on energy-efficient desalination within his “distinguished contributions to thermal science and engineering”, will be honored at a ceremony in February 2019 at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Professor Lienhard said: “AAAS is one of the oldest scientific organizations in the United States. I have been a member for 30 years, and in fact my parents also received AAAS’s Science magazine at our home when I was a child.  I am deeply honored to be recognized as a fellow of this esteemed organization, and I strongly support its commitment to using scientific principles to understand and tackle the world’s greatest challenges – including a secure and sustainable supply of water and food for everyone.”