David Hammer, the J. Carleton Ward Professor of Nuclear Energy Engineering, was one of four members of the Cornell faculty named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). They are among 348 researchers chosen to receive the prestigious award this year for their efforts toward advancing science or fostering applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished.

Hammer’s current research involves pulsed-power-driven high energy density plasmas, plasma radiation sources, controlled fusion, high-resolution X-ray imaging, physics and technology of intense charged particle beams and their interaction with gases and plasmas and nonneutral plasmas.

A Cornell faculty member since 1977, Hammer has directed experimental research on the physics and technology of intense pulsed ion beams and their applications to magnetic and inertial confinement fusion. In 1988 he began experiments to develop the X pinch as a point source of radiation for X-ray lithography and, later, with Lebedev Institute scientists, for high-resolution X-ray imaging. For the past few years Hammer has been involved in research on exploding-wire-initiated high energy density plasmas, conducting those studies since 2002 as part of the Cornell Center for the Study of Pulsed-Power-Driven High Energy Density Plasmas.

Others from Cornell named to AAAS fellowship were Donald Campbell, professor of astronomy; David Grusky, professor of sociology; and Ray Wu, professor of molecular biology and genetics.

—Cornell News Service