The American Association for the Advancement of Science recently released its list of the 2023 class of fellows. All told, 502 scientists, engineers and innovators were recognized for their scientific and social achievements.

University of Arizona professors Daniel Apai and Dante Lauretta were selected for their contributions in astronomy, planetary sciences and astrobiology.

ASU professor Kaye Reed also received recognition for her work in the study of human evolution.

“It's really an honor. And I just felt overwhelmed, but it was really nice to be honored in this way that other people elected me and felt that my work was very good," she said.

According to Reed, her work focuses on reconstructing paleoenvironments for hominin ancestors, one of the topics related to studying the interaction between organisms and their environments.

Andrew Black is with the science association.

“So we're actually celebrating the 150th anniversary of the AAAS fellows, so the first class of fellows was named way back in 1874. So this is really one of the oldest and most prestigious honors in the scientific community," he said.

According to Black, many see this as a capstone achievement of work that has progressed over one’s career.