Anastasia Chopelas, UNLV associate professor of physics, has been elected vice chair for the 2002 Gordon Research Conference on Research at High Pressure.

Chopelas, who was elected by scientists attending the 2000 conference last month, will become chair for the 2004 conference.

Her election marks the first time in the nearly 50-year history of the prestigious conference that a woman has been elected to serve as vice chair and eventually chair of the event.

The conference attracts people from a variety of fields, including astrophysics, geoscience, and the life sciences.