FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The American Association for the Advancement of Science has awarded J. Michael Plavcan the distinction of AAAS Fellow, an honor that members of the association bestow upon their peers.

This year’s 486 AAAS Fellows, chosen for distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications, were announced in the journal Science on Dec. 19.

Founded in 1848, the AAAS includes some 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has an estimated total readership of 1 million.

Plavcan, an associate professor of anthropology in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas, was acknowledged for his contributions to understanding the biology and evolution of sexual differences in living primates and fossils.

He was cited for his contributions to public science education and for his publications on the evolution and behavior of primates, patterns of dimorphism in human evolution and the factors that influence craniofacial growth in humans. He is the co-editor of Reconstructing Behavior in the Primate Fossil Record and has served as associate editor of the Journal of Human Evolution.

In his research, Plavcan has analyzed the relationship between social behavior and sex differences found in the teeth, skeletons and bodies of primates. His goal is to understand the biological and behavioral significance of variation in extinct species, including our own closest relatives.

He has also studied topics as diverse as human craniofacial growth and development, biomechanics and craniofacial shape in antelopes and their relatives.

He is currently funded by the National Science Foundation and the Wenner Gren Foundation to employ new digital technologies to explore sex differences in the limb bones of humans and primates, and variations in fossil human relatives from Kenya.

The mission of the nonprofit AAAS, which is open to all, is to advance science and serve society through initiatives in policy, international programs and education.

New AAAS Fellows will be presented with an official certificate and a gold and blue (representing science and engineering, respectively) rosette pin on Saturday, Feb. 14, at the AAAS Fellows Forum during the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting in Chicago.