The Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) announced on November 10, 2011, that Professor Barry A. Costa-Pierce, director of Rhode Island Sea Grant and professor of fisheries & aquaculture at the University of Rhode Island, has been elected as an AAAS Fellow.

Each year the Council elects Fellows whose “efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished.” In the award letter, AAAS states that Costa-Pierce is being honored for “distinguished contributions to global aquaculture and its sustainability and for leadership in marine research, education, and outreach as director of two NOAA-Sea Grant college programs.”  The Rhode Island Sea Grant Program is a federal-state-university partnership, based at the University of Rhode Island, that designs and supports research, outreach, and education programs that foster coastal and marine stewardship.

Costa-Pierce will be honored at the AAAS Fellows Forum on February 18, 2012, in Vancouver, British Columbia.

For more details, please see the full press release.