AAAS recognizes UTSA’s Schlegel, Whittington for groundbreaking research

MARCH 27, 2025 — Two UTSA College of Sciences researchers have been elected to the Class of 2024 fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Eric Schlegel, The Vaughan Family Endowed Professor in Physics, was recognized for his achievements in astronomy and astrophysics while Alan Whittington, professor of Earth and planetary sciences, was recognized for his contributions to Earth science and volcanology.

The AAAS is one of the world’s largest general scientific societies and is the publisher of the Science family of journals. The designation of AAAS fellow is a recognition of lifetime achievements and contributions to the scientific community. This year's class includes 471 scientists, engineers and innovators across 24 AAAS disciplinary sections.

“This year’s class of fellows are the embodiment of scientific excellence and service to our communities,” said Sudip S. Parikh, AAAS chief executive officer and executive publisher of the Science family of journals. “At a time when the future of the scientific enterprise in the U.S. and around the world is uncertain, their work demonstrates the value of sustained investment in science and engineering.”

“It is a distinguished and well-deserved honor for Dr. Schlegel and Dr. Whittington to join their ranks.”

Eric Schlegel

Schlegel completed his Ph.D. and postdoctoral studies at Indiana University, where he studied fast-changing binary star systems, called cataclysmic variables. These are pairs of stars that orbit each other extremely closely, completing a full orbit in just a few hours. To study them, he used specialized equipment that measures the light emitting from these stars over very short periods of time, allowing him to see how the light changes as the stars move and interact. He completed a second postdoctoral program focused on supernovae at Harvard University.

Schlegel subsequently worked as a research scientist for the High Energy Astrophysics Group at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Through this six-year position, he began specializing in the high-energy universe and its observation using X-ray instruments and detectors. He served for 10 years on the Chandra X-ray Observatory project at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian prior to joining UTSA in 2005.

He is the author of a book titled, “The Restless Universe: Understanding X-Ray Astronomy in the Age of Chandra and Newton.”

Schlegel’s current research focuses on the JAXA-NASA XRISM mission, on which he serves as a guest scientist. The primary instrument on board is a micro-calorimeter, which allows researchers to study high-temperature gas by observing the X-rays it releases.

“XRISM gives us a first look at high spectral resolution, which means watching X-ray hot gas move around in 'ordinary' situations rather than extreme ones,” Schlegel said.

Schlegel shared that he was surprised to be elected as his research has encountered several obstacles over the years. XRISM is the fourth and most successful calorimeter launch in a series of launches that have evolved by trial and error.

“I did not expect to be elected,” he said. “I thank the AAAS group that reviews the applications. In spite of some frustrations along the way, I've still managed to carry out research and help students achieve something for which they've aimed, all while (usually) retaining a sense of humor, humility and curiosity.”

XRISM will be available for the public to view on September 1, 2025. Schlegel anticipates that it will “quite possibly re-write much of what we thought we understood about X-ray-emitting objects out there.”

Alan Whittington

Whittington became interested in geology through caving and rock climbing in his native UK. He earned his Ph.D. focusing on how granites formed in the western Himalayas. Then, he proceeded to study in France and the U.S., where he began to specialize in volcanoes, magma and lava flow speeds.

“This is very temperature-dependent,” Whittington said. “Hot lava can be more fluid than ketchup, while cooler lava can be stickier than peanut butter.”

He also studies heat flow in rocks and lava. He developed an interest in planetary science and began studying lava on other planets, which can be dramatically different from Earth.

He became a recipient of an NSF CAREER award in 2008 and a fellow of the Geological Society of America in 2017, where he also served as chair of the Mineralogy, Geochemistry, Petrology and Volcanology Division. His most-cited article, published in Nature, demonstrates that the warm lower crust insulates the Earth's upper mantle, trapping heat.

“If basaltic magma is injected into the crust, that heat is slow to diffuse away, and the crust can melt more easily than we had previously thought,” Whittington said. “This helps to explain the generation of supervolcanoes, like at Yellowstone.”  

In 2019, he joined UTSA, where he serves as the principal investigator of the Heat and Mass Transfer & Experimental Rheology (HAMsTER) lab and applies materials science techniques to understanding lava flows and their hazards. One main function of the lab is to support “lunar in situ resource utilization projects,” which involves finding ways to build construction materials from Moon rocks to support lunar settlements.

“To me, being an AAAS Fellow represents recognition for my many advisors, mentors and colleagues, from whom I learned a lot about different branches of geoscience, and also how to be a responsible citizen of academia,” Whittington said. “It also represents recognition for the many students I have worked with over the years, from whom I have also learned a lot, and whose energy and enthusiasm helps to fuel my own.” 

Whittington’s next research goal is to build upon a recent discovery by one of his students in the lab, which relates to measuring bubbles in lava and may help inform lava flow modeling and hazard preparedness in Hawai'i.

“UTSA is proud to support its growing team of AAAS fellows,” said Jennifer Sharpe Potter, UTSA interim vice president for research. “It is a distinguished and well-deserved honor for Dr. Schlegel and Dr. Whittington to join their ranks. I look forward to witnessing the evolution of their research as they continue to expand upon what is possible on the Moon and in the universe.”

This latest announcement marks the fourth consecutive year that UTSA faculty have been elected as AAAS fellows. Most recently, Jose Lopez-Ribot (medical mycology) was named a fellow. James Chambers (molecular microbiology and immunology), Aimin Liu (chemistry) and Angela Speck (physics and astronomy) were elected in 2022 while Audrey Lamb (chemistry) and Anthony Chronopoulos (computer science) became AAAS fellows in 2023. Other fellows have included Floyd L. Wormley Jr. (medical mycology) in 2019; Banglin Chen in 2017; Taylor Eighmy (societal impacts of science and engineering) in 2014, Rena Bizios (engineering) in 2010; Ravi Sandhu and Howard Grimes in 2008; George Perry in 1997 and Michael Doyle in 1994.

There are currently 14 researchers at UTSA with this designation.

— Audrey Gray