The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has announced that Sloan Research Fellowships will go to 100 young scientists and economists, including five from MIT: Associate Professors Bruce Tidor of chemistry and Dora L. Costa of economics, and Assistant Professors Elly Nedivi and H. Sebastian Seung (both in brain and cognitive sciences) and Amihay Hanany of physics. The two-year fellowships are awarded to young faculty members who have demonstrated great research potential in the physical sciences, economics, mathematics and neuroscience.
Sloan Fellows receive research grants of $35,000 for a two-year period. More than 400 nominations were reviewed by an 18-member panel of distinguished scientists including Barbara Liskov of electrical engineering and computer science, Steven Lippard of chemistry and Dean of Science Robert Birgeneau of physics. The Sloan Foundation has spent nearly $83 million since 1955 on the program.
Dr. Justin Du Bois, a postdoctoral fellow in chemistry, has won the Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry, presented by the American Chemical Society. The award recognizes the research he did as a Caltech undergraduate with advisor Erick Carreira on new methods for making molecules as possible drugs to treat cancer and other diseases. Their research focused on nitrogenating molecules in an attempt to make synthesized pharmaceuticals better match the body's chemical structure.
At the same national meeting on March 23, the ACS also honored alumni Barry Trost (PhD 1965) of Stanford University with its Herbert C. Brown Award for Creative Research in Synthetic Methods, Chi-Huey Wong (PhD 1982) of the Scripps Research Institute with the Claude S. Hudson Award in Carbohydrate Chemistry, and John T. Yates (PhD 1960) of the University of Pittsburgh with the Arthur W. Adamson Award for Distinguished Service in the Advancement of Surface Chemistry.
Professor Thomas W. Eagar, department head and POSCO Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, recently received the Honorary Membership Award from the American Welding Society at the 1999 AWS International Welding and Fabrication Exposition and 80th annual convention hld in St. Louis. This award is presented to "a person of acknowledged eminence in the welding profession or who is credited with exceptional accomplishments in the industry."
Alexandra Techet, a graduate student in ocean engineering, has won a $20,000 Link Foundation Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation Fellowship for 1999-2000. The Link Foundation, established in 1953, aims to enhance theoretical and practical knowledge and applications of ocean engineering and instrumentation research, with emphasis on development and conservation of energy resources.
Prabal Chakrabarti, a graduate student in the Technology and Policy Program, has been named as one of 18 Luce Scholars for 1999-2000. The program places young scholars from a wide variety of intellectual fields in 10-month internships throughout Asia.
Dr. Robert S. Langer, the Germeshausen Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, received the 1999 Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest, presented by the American Chemical Soci-ety's northeastern section on April 8.
In a talk titled "Biomaterials and How They Change Our Lives," Professor Langer spoke about his work developing biodegradable scaffolding to deliver drugs within the body and for the regeneration of organs. Professor Langer was honored for his "interdisciplinary approach to solving medical problems through polymer chemistry and engineering."
Last month, Professor Langer also received the 1999 Award in Polymer Chemistry from the American Chemical Society, for developing polymers that make brain cancer treatments safer and more effective, that provide scaffolding on which to grow tissues such as new skin, and other applications.
Kush Gulati, a graduate student in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has been named the first Maxim Integrated Products Fellow. He expects to receive the PhD in mixed signal integrated circuit design in December. Mr. Gulati, who has earned degrees from the Delhi Institute of Technology and Vanderbilt University, holds one patent and has another pending.
A version of this article appeared in the April 14, 1999 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 43, Number 26).
