Seven MIT researchers win 2017 Sloan Research Fellowships

Seven MIT researchers from four departments are among the 126 American and Canadian researchers awarded 2017 Sloan Research Fellowships, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation announced today.

New MIT-affiliated Sloan Research Fellows are: Mohammad Alizadeh, the TIBCO Career Development Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; Semyon Dyatlov, an assistant professor of mathematics; Nikta Fakhri, an assistant professor of physics; Kerstin Perez, an assistant professor of physics; Aaron Pixton, an assistant professor of mathematics; Caroline Uhler, an assistant professor of mathematics and in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society; and Alexander Wolitzky, an associate professor of economics.

Awarded annually since 1955, the Sloan Research Fellowships are given to early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements and potential identify them as rising stars among the next generation of scientific leaders. This year’s recipients are drawn from 60 colleges and universities across the United States and Canada.

“The Sloan Research Fellows are the rising stars of the academic community,” said Paul L. Joskow, president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, in a press release. “Through their achievements and ambition, these young scholars are transforming their fields and opening up entirely new research horizons. We are proud to support them at this crucial stage of their careers.”

Administered and funded by the foundation, the fellowships are awarded in eight scientific fields: chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, evolutionary and computational molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and physics. To qualify, candidates must first be nominated by fellow scientists and subsequently selected by an independent panel of senior scholars. Fellows receive $60,000 to be used to further their research.

Since the beginning of the program, 43 Sloan Fellows have earned Nobel Prizes, 16 have won the Fields Medal in mathematics, 69 have received the National Medal of Science, and 16 have won the John Bates Clark Medal in economics.

For a complete list of this year’s winners, visit the Sloan Research Fellowships website.

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