E. Josie Clowney has been named a Sloan Research Fellow for 2018.  She is an Assistant Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology who does research on the developmental and regulatory mechanisms that generate neural circuits and govern their function, using the olfactory system of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model. 

She is one of four UM researchers who received this prestigious award this year.

The others are: Andrew Ault, assistant professor of environmental health sciences and chemistry; Jia Deng, assistant professor of computer science and engineering; and Ada Eban-Rothschild, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience.

The researchers are part of a group of 126 early-career scholars recognized by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The recipients receive a two-year, $65,000 fellowship to support their research.

"The Sloan Research Fellows represent the very best science has to offer," said Sloan president Adam Falk. "The brightest minds, tackling the hardest problems, and succeeding brilliantly—fellows are quite literally the future of 21st century science."

Drawn this year from 53 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, the 2018 Sloan Research Fellows represent a diverse array of institutions and backgrounds. U-M's fellows include:

Past Sloan Research Fellows include many towering figures in the history of science, including physicists Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann, and game theorist John Nash. Forty-five fellows have received a Nobel Prize in their respective field, 16 have won the Fields Medal in mathematics, 69 have received the National Medal of Science, and 17 have won the John Bates Clark Medal in economics, including every winner since 2007.

Open to scholars in eight scientific and technical fields—chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and physics—the Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded in close coordination with the scientific community. Candidates must be nominated by their fellow scientists and winning fellows are selected by an independent panel of senior scholars in their field on the basis of a candidate’s research accomplishments, creativity and potential to become a leader in his or her field.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic, not-for-profit grant making institution based in New York City. Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then-president and chief executive officer of General Motors Corp., the foundation makes grants in support of original research and education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and economics.