Dr. David Mills, professor of biological sciences and director for the Center for Applied Learning to Yield Scientific Teaching (CATALyST) at Louisiana Tech University, has been appointed to serve on the American Association of Anatomists’ (AAA) Professional Development Committee. Mills was nominated by AAA President Jeffrey Laitman to serve a three-year term beginning in 2011 and running through 2014.  The appointment will become official at the Committee’s annual Experimental Biology meeting in Washington, DC, April 9-14. “This appointment provides me with an opportunity to interact with colleagues at the national level which is very exciting,” said Mills.  “The president of the American Association of Anatomists, Dr. Jeffrey Laitman, is an internationally recognized scholar, who has made significant contributions to anatomy, medicine and paleoanthropology.  I am very much looking forward to working with Dr. Laitman and the other members of the committee over the next three years.” The Professional Development Committee is responsible for planning the professional development component of the AAA Annual Meeting and providing oversight of professional development related projects. These responsibilities include the Association’s mentoring program, living history project, and suggesting content for the professional development component of the website and planning regional meetings. The committee consists of six to nine members, which include the AAA President and liaisons from the Educational Affairs Committee and the Program Committee serving ex-officio. In addition to his professorship and leadership of CATALyST, Mills is also a faculty associate with Louisiana Tech’s Center for Biomedical Engineering & Rehabilitation Science and a research associate in Louisiana Tech’s Institute from Micromanufacturing. “I believe this honor says much about the quality of scholarship and research being conducted at Louisiana Tech,” Mills said.  “Since arriving as a new assistant professor in 1994, I have seen our faculty achieve extraordinary achievements in both the academic, engineering and scientific communities and the business worlds.  It is nice to see this being recognized at the national level.” The American Association of Anatomists was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1888, for the “advancement of anatomical science.”  Today, via research, education, and professional development activities, AAA serves as the professional home for an international community of biomedical researchers and educators focusing on anatomical form and function.