Two CAS professors, SueYeon Chung and Jinyoung Park, were named Sloan Research Fellows for their contributions in neuroscience and mathematics. The fellowship, awarded annually by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, aims to acknowledge the creativity, innovation and accomplishments of 126 researchers in the United States and Canada.
The Sloan Foundation is a grantmaking nonprofit dedicated to supporting original research and advance developments in education, mathematics, science, technology and economics. Chung, an assistant professor at the Center for Neural Science, and Park, an assistant professor at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, will each receive a $75,000 grant to put toward two-year research initiatives.
Stacie Bloom, NYU’s vice provost for research, told WSN the university has received funding awards “nearly 100 times since the fellowship was established” in 1955, with 93 faculty members from the university having been selected as fellows. Last year, Dries Sels, an assistant professor of physics at NYU was a fellow by the foundation.
“This recognition reinforces our commitment to excellence in research, and our enduring tradition of supporting innovation,” Bloom wrote to WSN. “I am particularly excited by the interdisciplinary approaches that both SueYeon Chung and Jinyoung Park are leveraging in their respective research. Their work nobly contributes to the diversity of thought and creativity that serve as catalysts for pioneering discoveries at NYU.”
Park’s research involves applying probability tools to analyze the location of changes in the properties of physical systems, such as the transition of water from liquid to solid.
Chung’s research focuses on developing mathematical theories and methods to articulate the structure of information within extensive populations of neurons — an approach to provide researchers with an understanding of how information is organized within large-scale neuronal activities.
In an interview with WSN, Chung said that being awarded the fellowship is indicative of her work being recognized as a valuable direction for understanding information processing in the brain.
“It significantly enhances our efforts and reinforces our commitment to advancing our research in this direction,” Chung said. “It makes a profound impact on a young lab that is striving for innovation and exploring new frontiers.”
Contact Adrianna Nehme at [email protected].
