3 researchers awarded prestigious Sloan Fellowships

Three University of Wisconsin–Madison professors have been named to Sloan Research Fellowships — prestigious and competitive awards given to promising young researchers in the early stages of their careers.

“Getting early-career support can be a make-or-break moment for a young scholar,” says Paul L. Joskow, president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “In an increasingly competitive academic environment, it can be difficult to stand out, even when your work is first rate. The Sloan Research Fellowships have become an unmistakable marker of quality among researchers. Fellows represent the best-of-the-best among young scientists.”

UW–Madison’s 2016 Sloan Fellows are:

• Etienne Garand, assistant professor of chemistry, who studies the dynamics of chemical reactions by freezing them as they happen.
• Ari Rosenberg, assistant professor of neuroscience, who is exploring the way our brains construct a 3-D picture of the world and meld information from different senses, as well as the neural basis of autism.
• Lu Wang, assistant professor of mathematics, whose focus is on geometric analysis and geometric partial differential equations like those often used to describe the shape and flow of curved surfaces, fluids and heat.

Each will receive a two-year $50,000 fellowship from the foundation, which has awarded Sloan Research Fellowships in eight scientific and technical fields —chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences and physics — since 1955.

This year, 126 U.S. and Canadian researchers were honored by the New York-based, not-for-profit philanthropic organization. Since 1934, the Sloan Foundation has made grants in support of research and education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and economic performance.