Six young UC Berkeley faculty members—three L&S faculty members—have been selected to receive a 2023 Sloan Research Fellowship, the largest number of fellows this year from any one public university.
In all, 126 early-career researchers from 54 U.S. and Canadian institutions were selected, according to an announcement by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
The fellowships honor extraordinary U.S. and Canadian researchers whose creativity, innovation and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders.
Including this year’s winners, 297 faculty members from Berkeley have received Sloan Research Fellowships since they were first awarded in 1955.
The new Berkeley fellows are:
Andrea Gomez, assistant professor of molecular and cell biology and a member of the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. The Gomez Lab uses molecular biology, electrophysiology and functional imaging to decode the cues that organize neural networks. The researchers hope to discover how dysfunction at the synapse manifests in conditions like autism, intellectual disability and neurodegeneration.
Benjamin Safdi, assistant professor of physics, who investigates the microscopic nature of dark matter using novel laboratory experiments and astrophysical probes. He aims to discover some of the most likely dark matter candidates, such as axion dark matter.
Yunqing Tang, assistant professor of mathematics, who focuses on arithmetic geometry and number theory within the field of algebra.
Sloan fellowship candidates must be nominated by their fellow scientists, and winners are selected by independent panels of senior scholars on the basis of a candidate’s research accomplishments, creativity and potential to become a leader in their field. Winners each receive a two-year, $75,000 fellowship that can be used flexibly to advance their research.
“Each in its own way, the nominating institutions are also helping to identify and support these flourishing young researchers,” says Daniel Goroff, director of the Sloan Research Fellowship Program. “We’re honored to join them in recognizing tomorrow’s scientific leaders.”