UC Newsroom
Eighteen early-career scientists and scholars across the University of California have been named 2015 Sloan Research Fellows.
The prestigious fellowships honor early-career academics whose achievements and potential identify them as rising stars and the next generation of scientific leaders. Fellows receive $50,000 to further their research in eight areas: chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and physics.
"The beginning of one's career is a crucial time in the life of a scientist. Building a lab, attracting funding in an increasingly competitive environment and securing tenure all depend on doing innovative, original, high-quality work and having that work recognized," said Dr. Paul L. Joskow, president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. "For more than 50 years the Sloan Foundation has been proud to celebrate the achievements of extraordinary young scientists who are pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge.”
Past Sloan Research Fellows have gone on notable careers. Since the program began in 1955, forty-three fellows have received a Nobel Prize in their respective field, 16 have won the Fields Medal in mathematics, 65 have received the National Medal of Science, and 14 have won the John Bates Clark Medal in economics, including every winner since 2007.
“Becoming a Sloan Research Fellow means joining a long and distinguished tradition of scientific explorers who have gone on to make the most meaningful and significant discoveries," said Daniel L. Goroff, Vice President at the Sloan Foundation and Director of the Sloan Research Fellowship Program.
New fellows, by campus and discipline, are:
Berkeley
Naomi Ginsberg, chemistry
Thomas Maimone, chemistry
Benjamin Handel, economics
Vivek Shende, mathematics
Richard Bamler, mathematics
Lin Lin, mathematics
Helen Bateup, neuroscience
Polina V. Lishko, neuroscience
James Analytis, physics
Irvine
Jennifer Prescher, chemistry
Aaron Esser-Kahn, chemistry
UCLA
Smadar Naoz, physics
San Diego
Andrea Tao, chemistry
Padmini Rangamani, computational & evolutionary molecular biology
Shachar Lovett, computer science
Paul Niehaus, economics
Bradley Voytek, neuroscience
Santa Barbara
Douglas McCauley, ocean sciences
