Frauke Kreuter Honored as AAAS Fellow
The social data scientist and survey methodologist is among four UMD faculty recognized with this distinction by the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Professor Frauke Kreuter has been named a 2025 Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and the publisher of the Science family of journals. Kreuter was recognized in the category of Societal Impacts of Science and Engineering.
Kreuter is a faculty member in the Joint Program for Survey Methodology, and co-directs UMD’s Social Data Science Center. She is also a Professor of Statistics and Data Science at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich.
AAAS Fellows are globally recognized as leaders in their fields. They are selected annually for their contributions to the advancement of science or its applications, and being named as a Fellow is one of the highest distinctions that can be granted within the scientific community.
Kreuter was recognized for the honor alongside three other UMD faculty members: Associate Professor Edward Eisenstein of the Fischell Department of Bioengineering; Distinguished University Professor James Farquhar of the Department of Geological, Environmental and Planetary Sciences; and Professor Lawrence Sita of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Kreuter was selected for “distinguished contributions to survey methodology, data metrics, and standards that improve the quality of government statistics.”
“The recognition is very encouraging to keep working on high-quality data, especially now where not only official statistics, but also AI models, need it,” Kreuter said. “Over the years, I have been impressed and inspired by the work of AAAS Fellows, including many from the University of Maryland. It is an honor to now be named among them.”
Among many honors and activities, Kreuter is an elected fellow of the American Statistical Association, and is the 2020 recipient of the Warren Mitofsky Innovators Award of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.
Kreuter is also the founder of the International Program for Survey and Data Science, developed in response to the increasing demand from researchers and practitioners for the appropriate methods and right tools to face a changing data environment. She co-founded the Coleridge Initiative, which accelerates data-driven research and policy around human beings and their interactions for program management, policy development, and scholarly purposes by enabling efficient, effective, and secure access to sensitive data about society and the economy.
“Professor Kreuter’s interdisciplinary, collaborative work sheds light on a wide range of significant issues, from human behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic to how we can most responsibly gather, use and leverage social data,” said Susan Rivera, Dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. “She partners with a broad range of worldwide collaborators, inside and outside of academia, making her work all the more innovative and relevant. It is truly fitting that Professor Kreuter is being recognized with this well-deserved honor.”
As part of the 2025 AAAS Fellows cohort—which is made up of nearly 500 scientists, engineers and innovators—Kreuter will be presented with a certificate and blue and gold rosette by mail, will be featured in Science, and is invited to the annual Fellows Forum, to be held in Washington, D.C., on March 29.
Kreuter and the 2025 cohort join a long list of lauded past honorees, including Maria Mitchell, Steven Chu, Ellen Ochoa, Irwin M. Jacobs, Alan Alda, Mae Jemison and Ayanna Howard.
Published on Thu, Mar 26, 2026 - 9:55AM