32 fellows representing 14 nationalities, including the first of Brazil, Ecuador, Nigeriaand Macedonia
The new group includes fellows from 11 new universities, including firsts from Brazilian and Indian institutions
NEW YORK, May 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Today, Eric and Wendy Schmidt announced the members of the 2023 cohort Schmidt Science Fellows. 32 outstanding early-career scientists will receive support to develop research projects and the leadership skills needed to harness interdisciplinary science to tackle some of the world’s most intractable problems.
Schmidt Science Fellows
Schmidt Science Fellows is the inaugural program of Schmidt Futures, the philanthropic initiative of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt with a mission to find and connect talented people to solve our world’s toughest problems. The program is run in partnership with the Rhodes Trust.
The sixth group of Schmidt Science Fellows will join the Lifetime Fellows community, which now totals 145 members from 34 nationalities. Recent scholarship recipients include the program’s first citizens from Brazil, Ecuador, Nigeriaand Macedonia and the first fellows nominated by Brazilian and Indian universities. The new cohort was selected based on their scientific achievements, talent, leadership characteristics and commitment to mastering interdisciplinary science, as well as their potential to address global challenges, including climate destruction, neurodegenerative diseases and food insecurity, and to improve mental health. drug discovery, energy security, etc.
Commenting on the new fellows, Wendy Schmidtco-founder of Schmidt Futures and president of The Schmidt Family Foundation, said: “History provides powerful examples of what happens when scientists are given the freedom to ask big questions that can achieve real breakthroughs across disciplines. Schmidt Science Fellows tackle climate destruction, discover new drugs against disease, develop new materials, use machine learning to understand the drivers of human health, and much more. This new cohort will add to that legacy in applying scientific discoveries to improve human health and capabilities and to preserve and restore major planetary systems.”
“I am proud to welcome the class of 2023 to our global community of Schmidt Science Fellows. We know that ambitious interdisciplinary science is essential if we are to address the critical challenges we face as a human society.” said dr Megan Kennaexecutive director of Schmidt Science Fellows. “Interdisciplinary approaches bring together different perspectives, people, techniques and insights, which means we solve bigger problems faster. I am delighted that this diversity of perspectives is reflected in our community, with 11 new nominated universities seeing Fellows selected, including our first from institutions in Brazil and Indiaand 14 nationalities represented in this year’s group.”
Schmidt 2023 Scholars and their nominating institutions are:
- Raymond Adkins – University of California, Santa Barbara
- T. Bertie Ansell – Oxford University
- Vesna Bacheva – Technion Israel Institute of Technology
- Yinon Bar-On – Weizmann Institute of Science
- Daryl Brown – University of California, San Diego
- Joshua Chen – Rice University
- Lillian Chin – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Shizhong Dai – University of California, San Francisco
- Neil Dalvey – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Yotam Feldman – Tel Aviv University
- Asim Ghazi – Georgia Institute of Technology
- Andrew Hunt – Northwestern University
- Ahyoung Kim – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Lumba Beach – Imperial College London
- Cecília Magalhães – University of São Paulo (USP)
- Juan Martinez Mori – Cornell University
- Arian Mora – University of Queensland
- Charlotte Newton – Cambridge University
- Suong Nguyen – Princeton University
- Solomon Oyahire – Stanford University
- Kira Podolsky – University of California, San Diego
- Shilpa Pothapragada – Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
- Krishnakanth Sabo – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Susmita Sarkar – Purdue University
- Michael Shoff – University of California, San Francisco
- Amy Strilchuk – University of British Columbia
- Sridevi Venkatesan – University of Toronto
- Julian Vigil – Stanford University
- Yanbo Wang – Johns Hopkins University
- Yuanqing Wang – Cornell University
- Matthew Wurdak – Australian National University
- Irui Zhang – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
More details about each 2023 fellow, including their research interests and their interdisciplinary research ambitions, can be found here.
Schmidt Science Fellows receive a stipend from 100,000 dollars one year for up to two years of postdoctoral research in a discipline other than their PhD in a world-leading laboratory anywhere in the world. They will attend a series of global meetings and a training program that introduces them to new research ideas, techniques and questions; exposes them to a wide range of cutting-edge sciences, leading thinkers and institutions; and provides tailored training in science communication, leadership and facilitation of interdisciplinary research and will also receive individual mentoring from renowned and accomplished senior scientists.
About Schmidt Science Fellows
Schmidt Science Fellows is an initiative of Schmidt Futures delivered in partnership with the Rhodes Trust. The Schmidt Science Fellows program helps scientists solve bigger problems faster by identifying, developing and expanding the next generation of science leaders, building a community of scientists and supporters of interdisciplinary science, and using this network to drive change across the sector .
Each year, Schmidt Science Fellows work in partnership with around 100 of the world’s leading science and engineering institutions to identify the best, brightest and potential candidates to join the fellowship. Nominated candidates then apply to the Program before a rigorous selection process that includes a paper-based academic review with panels of experts in their home disciplines and final interviews with panels including senior representatives from many academic disciplines and various business sectors.
About Schmidt Futures
Founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic initiative that brings talented people together in networks to prove their ideas and solve tough problems in science and society. To learn more about our method and the diverse types of capital and instruments we use, visit https://www.schmidtfutures.com.
Contact with the media
Melissa Stavenhagen, [email protected]
SOURCE Schmidt Futures