Two engineering faculty members named fellows with renowned science group

Sos Agaian (top) and Rena Bizios

By Christi Fish
Associate Director of Media Relations

(June 6, 2011)--Earlier this year, Sos Agaian, Peter T. Flawn Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Rena Bizios, Peter T. Flawn Professor of Biomedical Engineering, were inducted as fellows into the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), an elected honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

Agaian, a computer engineering scholar, specializes in signal and image processing, cancer imaging, bioinformatics and multimedia security. His research applies to mobile communications security, multimedia security, sensors imaging, health care management and other engineering areas.

In addition to holding 23 U.S. patents, Agaian has authored more than 450 journal and conference papers, six books and seven book chapters. He is an associate editor of the IEEE’s Systems Journal, Journal of Real-Time Imaging and Journal of Electronic Imaging, and he serves as an editorial board member of the Journal of Pattern Recognition and Image Analysis.

He has two doctoral degrees from the Academy of Sciences of the USSR in Moscow: one in engineering sciences (electrical and computer engineering) and the other in mathematics and physics. Additionally, he is a Fellow of the International Society for Photo-Optical Instrumentations Engineers and a foreign member of the Armenian National Academy.

Bizios, a chemical-biomedical engineer has established a distinguished career in academia. Her contributions to teaching and accomplishments in research have been recognized by awards and honors from several regional and national professional organizations. She also is a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and of International Society for Biomaterials Science and Engineering.

Her research interests include cellular engineering, tissue regeneration, biomaterials, biocompatibility and tissue engineering. She has more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and several hundred invited and contributed presentations at national and international conferences, universities and companies. She is co-author of a textbook and co-editor of another book pertinent to her research interests and activities. She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research (Parts A and B).

This year, 503 members were awarded the honor of fellow by the AAAS because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. Both Agaian and Bizios were nominated to become AAAS fellows by the organization’s Section on Engineering.

Other AAAS fellows on the UTSA faculty include Mo Jamshidi, Lutcher Brown Distinguished Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering; Joseph L. Martinez Jr., professor of neurobiology; George Perry, dean of the College of Sciences; Ravi Sandhu, Lutcher Brown Distinguished Chair in Cyber Security; Miguel Yacaman, professor and chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy; and David J. McComas, senior executive director of the Space Science and Engineering Division at Southwest Research Institute and UTSA adjoint professor of physics; and C.L. Philip Chen, professor of electrical and computer engineering.

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About the AAAS

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science, as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes 262 affiliated societies and academies of science serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world with an estimated readership of one million. The nonprofit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to advance science and serve society through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education and more. For the latest research news, visit EurekAlert!, the premier science news website and a service of AAAS.