URBANA, Ill. – University of Illinois professor Isaac Cann has been elected a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, one of just 65 microbiologists worldwide recognized for the honor in 2023.

The American Academy of Microbiology is the honorific leadership group and think tank within the American Society for Microbiology. The Academy recognizes scientists exhibiting high ethical standards, scientific excellence, originality, scholarly and creative achievement, and leadership. Election to fellowship is the highest honor granted by the Academy.

Cann is a professor in the Department of Animal Sciences and the Division of Nutritional Sciences, both units within the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences; the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology; and the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies. He is also an affiliate in the Department of Microbiology at Illinois.

For Cann, the microbial world holds the potential to power renewable energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve human and animal well-being. His diverse research portfolio includes DNA replication in archaea, an important group of unicellular microorganisms including species responsible for methane production from ruminant animals; host-microbe interactions and their effects on human health; and microbial processes and enzymes related to biofuel production.

“Isaac’s research touches us all, from his work on reducing methane emissions and producing renewable biofuels to increasing our understanding of the gastrointestinal microbiome. His contributions to addressing climate change and human health and wellbeing cannot be understated,” says Bryan White, professor emeritus in the Department of Animal Sciences and 2015 Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.

Cann came to the Department of Animal Sciences as a postdoctoral researcher in 1994, after completing doctoral and master’s degrees at Mie University in Japan. He joined the ACES faculty in 2001. Cann has earned multiple notable honors through his career, including the National Science Foundation Career Award (2003), Fellow of the Center for Advance Study (2005), NACTA Teacher Fellow Award (2011), Excellence in Guiding Undergraduate Research Award (UIUC, 2012), Deputy Director of the Energy Biosciences Institute (2013-2019), the Paul A Funk Award (College of ACES, 2014), and Distinguished Visiting Professor (Kyoto University, Japan 2019). He is editor for several microbiology journals, including Applied and Environmental Microbiology, one of the flagship journals of the American Society for Microbiology.

“This award validates Dr. Cann’s extraordinary scholarship and contributions to the microbiology community,” says Rod Johnson, head of the Department of Animal Sciences. “That Isaac is also a highly respected teacher and leader in the department makes this recognition all the more satisfying to me.”

The American Academy of Microbiology now has more than 2,600 fellows "representing all subspecialties of the microbial sciences and involved in basic and applied research, teaching, public health, industry, and government service," according to a news release from the organization.