Supports research in science-related fields.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Seven Indian-Americans are among the 126 awardees of the 2014 Sloan Research Fellowship. Three men and four women have been named as recipients across eight of the prestigious award’s categories.
Started in 1955, the Sloan Research Fellowship seeks to provide financial support to those in the early stages of their careers in science-related fields. The number of recipients varies from year to year, but has recently been consistently in the neighborhood of 115 to 130.
Nominees are named by their peers, and an independent panel then examines each candidate’s independent accomplishments and resume before announcing the final list of winners.
The desi recipients this year, along with their respective categories and where they currently work and conduct research are as follows:
Animashree Anandkumar – Computer Science – University of California at Irvine – assistant professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department
Anandkumar holds a B.Tech in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering, respectively, from Cornell University. She is currently conducting research on statistics gathering and computing through various types of graphical and variable models.
Prashant Jain – Chemistry – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – assistant professor in Department of Chemistry
Jain earned his B.S. from the institute of Chemical Technology (Mumbai) and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from George Tech, in Atlanta. His research deals with nano-optics and molecular imaging, with the ultimate goal of being able to study energy and chemical transference on an incredibly small, precise level.
Anshul Kundaje – Computational and Evolutionary Molecular Biology – Stanford University – assistant professor in Department of Genetics and secondary appointment in Department of Computer Science
Kundaje earned his Ph.D. from Columbia University, in computer science, and conducted post-doctoral research at Stanford University. His current research pursuit is on creating models and frameworks for genetic sequencing.
Sushmita Roy – Computational and Evolutionary Molecular Biology – University of Wisconsin at Madison – assistant professor in Department of Biostatics
Roy earned his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of New Mexico, and is researching the ways in which cells create and maintain regulatory network, and interpret the data collected via those networks.
Tapan Parikh – Computer Science – University of California at Berkeley – assistant professor in School of Information
Parikh earned his B.S. in molecular modeling from Brown University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Washington in computer science (both degrees). He is trying to use computers to study human interaction with technology for use with all different types of software applications.
Pradeep Ravikumar – Computer Science – University of Texas at Austin – assistant professor in Department of Computer Science
Ravikumar earned his Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in computer science, and conducted post-doctoral research at UC Berkeley. His research interest is in “statistical machine learning.”
Nayantara Bhatnagar – Mathematics – University of Delaware – assistant professor in Department of Mathematical Sciences
Bhatnagar earned her Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, and is conducting research on aspects of probability and statistics, and their relationship with physics.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com