Two University of Oregon professors joined the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences in a ceremony last weekend in Cambridge, Mass.

Biology professor Chris Doe and professor emerita of psychology Mary Rothbart were among the 204 new fellows inducted into the academy this year. Their addition brings the total number of current or retired UO faculty named to the group to 15.

Doe studies the development of the central nervous system, and, in particular, how stem cells make neurons. Much of his research is done using fruit flies and zebra fish.

Doe is a member of the UO's Institute of Neuroscience and Institute of Molecular Biology. He also is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

Rothbart is a professor emerita of psychology but still active in research in developmental psychology at the UO. A parent-report tool that she introduced in 1981, the Infant Behavior Questionnaire, is now one the most widely employed measures of infant temperament. She also has done extensive laboratory work on the early development of emotion, activity and attention.

Mary K. Rothbart

In 2009, Rothbart received the 2009 Gold Medal for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology from the American Psychological Foundation. She holds a bachelor's degree from Reed College and a doctorate from Stanford University.

Among the attendees at the Oct. 11 induction will be UO president emeritus Dave Frohnmayer, who was elected to the academy’s board of directors last year.

The AAAS was founded in 1780 by John Adams and other prominent scholars and is one of the oldest academic societies and policy research centers in the world. The academy’s membership of 4,600 fellows and 600 foreign honorary members includes many of the world’s most accomplished scholars and practitioners.

Among its members are winners of the Nobel Prize, the Wolf Prize, the Pulitzer Prize and the National Medal of the Arts. It has McArthur, Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowship recipients and winners of Grammy, Emmy, Oscar and Tony awards.