Sloan Fellowship

Excerpt from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Sloan Research Fellowships (established in 1955) is by far the oldest program of the Sloan Foundation, although those who receive the grants are among the youngest researchers the Foundation assists.

These awards are intended to enhance the careers of the very best young faculty members in specified fields of science. Currently a total of 116 fellowships are awarded annually in seven fields: chemistry, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, computer science, economics (eight fellowships), mathematics, neuroscience, and physics.

Selection procedures for the Sloan Research Fellowships are designed to identify those who show the most outstanding promise of making fundamental contributions to new knowledge. Sloan Research Fellows, once chosen, are free to pursue whatever lines of inquiry are of the most compelling interest to them.

Aside from the monetary aspect of the fellowships, less tangible benefits have been cited by former Fellows. The early recognition of distinguished performance which the fellowships confer, after years of arduous preparation, was said to be immensely encouraging and a stimulus to personal and career development. Thirty-five Sloan Fellows have won Nobel Prizes later in their careers, and hundreds have received other honors.