Eighteen faculty members from the University of California have been named 2026 Sloan Research fellows, according to an announcement by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation on February 17. The award recognizes early-career scientists and scholars for their achievements and potential.
This year, more Sloan fellows are affiliated with the University of California than any other institution. UC also leads all institutions in the total number of Sloan fellows throughout the program’s 61-year history.
The 18 UC recipients represent six campuses: UC Berkeley (7), UC Davis (1), UC Irvine (2), UCLA (3), UC San Diego (4), and UC Santa Cruz (1). Each fellow will receive a two-year, $75,000 award to support their research.
In total, 126 early-career scientists from 44 institutions in the United States and Canada received Sloan fellowships this year. The fellowship is considered both recognition of past accomplishments and encouragement for future work. Many former fellows have gone on to earn major scientific honors, including Nobel Prizes, National Medals of Science, and Fields Medals in Mathematics.
Among previous recipients from UC is John Clarke, a professor at UC Berkeley who won the Nobel Prize in physics last year. His achievement contributed to a record number of Nobel Prizes awarded to faculty at a single institution in one year. Other notable past fellows include Mario J. Molina, a late professor at UC San Diego who was recognized for his work on ozone depletion; Andrea Ghez, a UCLA professor who won the Nobel Prize in physics in 2020; and Terence Tao, a UCLA mathematician honored with both the Fields Medal and Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics.
Stacie Bloom, president and chief executive officer of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation said: “The Sloan Research fellows are among the most promising early-career researchers in the U.S. and Canada, already driving meaningful progress in their respective disciplines. We look forward to seeing how these exceptional scholars continue to unlock new scientific advancements, redefine their fields, and foster the well-being and knowledge of all.”
Eligibility for the awards extends to scholars holding a Ph.D. or equivalent degree across seven fields: chemistry, computer science, Earth system science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, and physics. Nominations are made by peers and winners are selected by independent panels based on research accomplishments as well as creativity and potential.
The full list of this year’s University of California recipients includes:
UC Irvine: Herdeline Ann M. Ardoña (chemistry), Seunghyun Sim (chemistry)
UC Berkeley: Ashok Ajoy (chemistry), Yuan Cao (physics), Sarah E. Chasins (computer science), Madison M. Douglas (Earth system science), Wenbin Lu (physics), Karthik Shekhar (neuroscience), John Wright (computer science)
UC Davis: Isaac Kim (physics)
UCLA: David V. Clewett (neuroscience), Pradip Gatkine (physics), Juliana Londoño-Vélez (economics)
UC San Diego: Valentina Di Santo (Earth system science), Fleur Ferguson (chemistry), Mattia Serra (physics), Hao Zhang (computer science)
UC Santa Cruz: Ashesh Chattopadhyay (Earth system science)
