Outstanding U.S. and Canadian scientists to receive Sloan Research Fellowships for 2013

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of 126 outstanding U.S. and Canadian researchers as recipients of Sloan Research Fellowships for 2013.

Awarded annually since 1955, the fellowships are given to early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements and potential identify them as rising stars, the next generation of scientific leaders.

"The Sloan Research Fellows are the best of the best among young scientists," said Dr. Paul L. Joskow, President of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. "If you want to know where the next big scientific breakthrough will come from, look to these extraordinary men and women. The Foundation is proud to support them during this pivotal stage of their careers."

Drawn from 61 colleges and universities across the United States and Canada, the 2013 Sloan Research Fellows represent a variety of research interests, including:

• A computer scientists who is working to make large data centers more reliable and energy-efficient;
• A mathematician who is helping create a real-world cloaking device;
• A molecular biologist who is making major strides in the fight against tuberculosis;
• A chemist who is creating scalable solar technology by constructing solar cells out of earth-abundant elements;
• An ocean scientist who is investigating how ocean warming affects marine species;
• A economist who is studying how incentives affect the behavior of politicians;
• A neuroscientist who thinks hibernating mammals may hold the secret to better organ transplants; and
• A physicist who is trying to create the first large quantum object.

Administered and funded by the Sloan Foundation, the fellowships are awarded in eight scientific fields-chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, evolutionary and computational molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and physics. Winners are selected through close cooperation with the scientific community. To qualify, candidates must first be nominated by their fellow scientists and are subsequently selected by an independent panel of senior scholars. Fellows receive $50,000 to be used to further their research.