Two Boston University professors last week were awarded Sloan Research Fellowships, each including a two-year, $40,000 research grant, BU officials said last week.
Boston University physics professors Pritiraj Mohnaty and Martin Schultz were awarded the 2003 fellowships.
Awarded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to researchers who should make large contributions to their research fields, the Sloan Research Fellowships are given to young scholars who have an outstanding record of independent research accomplishments, according to the organization’s website.
As a researcher in the physics department’s experimental condensed-matter group, Mohnaty investigates ‘nanoscale phenomena,’ he said. Schmaltz, a researcher with the department’s theoretical particle physics group, explores the fundamental constituents of matter, such as quarks and leptons and their interactions.
Both professors said they are excited to receive the award.
‘I feel great,’ Shmaltz said. ‘It is very rewarding to learn that others in your field think highly of your research. It is a lot of fun to do research and to get this kind of acknowledgment is icing on the cake.’
With the $40,000 spread over the span of two years, Schmaltz said he hopes to use the money to support a graduate student, who would participate in his research.
After being nominated by the head of BU’s physics department, Lawrence Sulak, the selection process is based on the total of the candidate’s past independent research accomplishments. Schmaltz said he was surprised at his selection as a Sloan Fellow.
‘I knew I had been nominated, but no way you never ‘expect’ this kind of thing,’ Schmaltz said.
The Sloan Research Fellowships were established in 1955 to provide support and recognition to young scientists, often in their first appointments to university faculties, who were attempting to set up laboratories and establish their independent research projects with little or no outside support, according to the organization’s website.
The selection criteria for Sloan Fellowship award is based on research merit, the website says. It comes with the $40,000 grant and the title of ‘Sloan Fellow.’ Only 23 researchers in physics are awarded fellowships each year.
With the 2003 awards, 10 Sloan Fellowships have been awarded to BU physics researchers in the past 15 years, according to a press release.
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