Patricia Marsteller, the associate dean of undergraduate research and scholarship and a professor of practice in the Emory College Arts and Sciences biology department, has been named chair-elect of the Section on Education of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

As a member of the AAAS Council, Marsteller will help establish the general policies of the world’s largest science organization. She takes the seat for her three-year term at the group’s annual meeting in Austin, Texas, this month.

“This is certainly an honor for the biology department and for Emory University,” says Ronald Calabrese, professor of biology and senior associate dean for research in Emory College, who works with Marsteller to support undergraduate research.

Marsteller has been an active leader in various programs to encourage undergraduate research and study in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

In addition to her duties with AAAS, Marsteller serves as undergraduate director of Emory’s Initiative to Maximize Student Development, an NIH-funded research program that provides professional development training to undergraduate and graduate students who are underrepresented in STEM fields.

She also volunteers as an adviser to the African Research Academies for Women, a nonprofit that provides hands-on research for women in STEM fields in Africa. Kwadwo “Kojo” Sarpong, a 2015 Emory College graduate whom Marsteller mentored, launched the group in 2014.

She directed the Emory College Center for Science Education from 1997 until 2016 and remains director of the Emory Howard Hughes Medical Institute initiative, which oversees the student research and mentoring programs funded by the HHMI grant.

Marsteller was named an elected fellow of AAAS in 2014, in honor of her work to improve science education both nationally and internationally and for her diversity work to improve access to science education.