Brown Scientists Awarded Sloan Foundation Research Fellowships
GoLocalProv Business Team
Brown Scientists Awarded Sloan Foundation Research Fellowships
Assistant professors Lorin Crawford (biostatistics); Kathryn Mann (mathematics); Brenda Rubenstein (chemistry); and Amitai Shenhav (cognitive, linguistic and psychological sciences), will each receive a two-year, $70,000 fellowship to further their research.
“Sloan research fellowships are among the oldest and most prestigious awards given to early-career scientists in many fields. For each of Brown’s four winners, this fellowship is an important honor, giving them the opportunity to further develop their outstanding research and its impact on the world. Beyond these individual achievements, this year Brown joins a small group of outstanding private research universities with four or more new Sloan fellows. We are proud of these scientific leaders and of the distinction that these awards signify for their research fields at Brown,” said Jill Pipher, vice president for research at Brown and a professor of mathematics.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe fellowships were announced on Tuesday, February 19.
Fellowship Winners
Lorin Crawford
Crawford’s award will support his research building deep learning algorithms able to detect the complex interactions between genes that contribute to diseases, such as cancer.
Deep learning uses multiple layers of artificial neural networks to learn complex patterns in data. It has been used commercially for recognizing and classifying images and recognizing and parsing language.
He is developing tools to address this challenge when it comes to ranking genetic markers. Another research focus of his is combining information from clinical images — such as MRI results showing the shape of brain tumors — with the results of genetic tests of cancer-causing mutations.
Kathryn Mann
A major motivating theme is that stability often comes from unexpected extra symmetries, or what mathematicians call geometric structures.
While many people in dynamics are motivated by physical world phenomena, Mann brings this approach to studying fundamental objects within the world of mathematics itself: group actions, manifolds, and their transformations.
Brenda Rubenstain
This compromise has limited the impact of quantum chemistry in helping to design the technologies of the future.
As a Sloan fellow, Rubenstein will focus on developing new stochastic electronic structure methods that are at once highly accurate and scale well with system size to help bridge this divide and enable theory-driven materials design.
Amitai Shenhav
In particular, he is researching what makes some tasks more challenging than others, how people evaluate the costs and benefits of putting in the mental effort to overcome those challenges, and how long they persist in those efforts when there are tempting alternatives. To answer these questions, he uses computational modeling and brain imaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging and electroencephalography.
He primarily studies motivation in healthy people, but he plans to collaborate with clinicians to better understand what leads to impaired motivation in patients with certain psychiatric and neurologic disorders, such as depression and Alzheimer’s, and how to help those patients better achieve their goals.
19 to Watch in 2019 - FULL LIST
Angie Armenise
Chef and co-owner of Blackie’s Bulldog Tavern in Smithfield, Angie Armenise has it all going. Expansion to a new and larger location, a wonderfully loyal customer base and a big stack of awards -- and more to come in the new year. READ MORE
Marcela Betancur
Marcela Betancur, the new head of Latino Policy Institute at Roger Williams University and will be the power behind Latinx think tank in 2019.
Betancur, a Central Falls native, most recently worked READ MORE
Brian Goldner
No one will influence the psyche of Rhode Island more this year than Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner. After the loss of the PawSox to Worcester and the closing of Rhode Island’s beloved Benny's in 2017, Rhode Islanders are a bit raw.
He is poised to announce that Hasbro is...READ MORE
Cortney Nicolato
New United Way of Rhode Island President and CEO Cortney Nicolato succeeded Anthony Maione in 2018 — and takes on her first full year at the helm of the social service organization in 2019.
She is a Rhode Islander turned Texan returned back to Rhode Island. The Pawtucket native is all about Rhode Island and is passionate about helping to improve issues of housing affordability and the quality of education in RI. She is the mother of two elementary school-aged children. READ MORE
Sabina Matos
It is the rise of the Phoenix in Providence. On Monday, Sabina Matos won back the Presidency of the Providence City Council and returns to the top legislative position in the City of Providence.
As Providence goes so goes Rhode Island. Matos will be faced with taking on some of the most difficult issues in the state. READ MORE
Jamie Bova
The Newport City Councilor At-Large lined up the votes to votes for Mayor after being elected to just her second term on the Newport City Council this past November.
Bova, an engineer who grew up in Middletown, attended URI, and moved to Newport in 2012, succeeds Harry Winthrop as the city faces major changes ahead for 2019, including the construction of a new hotel on Thames Street — and more hotel proposals in the pipeline — and READ MORE
Jennifer Wood
The former private practice attorney turned top government aide turned non-profit director might have her biggest — and most public — battle on her hands in 2019.
RI Center for Justice Executive Director Jennifer Wood joined GoLocal News Editor on GoLocal LIVE where she spoke to the next steps after filing a federal class-action lawsuit in late November on behalf of all Rhode Island public school students to establish the right, under the U.S. Constitution, to an adequate education to prepare young people for full civic education.
Catholic Church Sex Abuse Survivors
In 2018, Bishop Tobin with the Diocese of Providence landed on GoLocal's “18 to Watch” as the Catholic Church was — and continues to remain — at the center of lawsuits pertaining to the collapse of the St. Joseph pension fund.
He’ll remain squarely in the spotlight — and not for good — in 2019, when he has pledged to release a list of names of abusive priests “credibly accused” over the years in the Diocese, as pressure mounts nationally for how sexual abuse claims were handled around the country — READ MORE
Matt Voskuil
One of Newport’s most iconic — and upscale — dining locations has a new look, a new chef — and people are taking note not just in Newport, but beyond.
Executive Chef and Director of Food and Beverage, Matt Voskuil at the newly opened Cara at the Chanler READ MORE
David Torchiana
The most powerful person in healthcare in Rhode Island may soon be a man who rarely visits the state and few here know his name.
Dr. David Torchiana is the CEO of Partners HealthCare and he is poised to push through an acquisition of Rhode Island’s second largest hospital group, ending the local control over three of Rhode Island’s most important healthcare assets. And, the deal has the potential of putting in peril thousands of Rhode Island jobs through consolidation. READ MORE
RI GOP Party Chair
Rhode Island Republican Party Chair Brandon Bell was defeated in his run for the General Assembly in 2018.
Republican Cranston Mayor Allan Fung lost in his second attempt at the Rhode Island Governor’s office, after a bruising primary that saw former opponent and House Minority Leader opt to endorse former Republican-turned-independent (and honorary chair for President Donald Trump’s campaign in Rhode Island) Joe Trillo. READ MORE
Anthony Baro
Anthony Baro heads Newport-based PowerDocks — one of Rhode Island’s most interesting startups. It is a market-making green tech company that, in many ways, combines the best of Rhode Island.
The emerging maritime renewal energy company is having an impact in the U.S. and globally. READ MORE
Blake Filippi
Blake Filippi is the new House Minority leader and is a fresh-faced leader for the GOP in Rhode Island. But, he faces a number of challenges. READ MORE
Desmond Cambridge
Brown University sophomore basketball player Desmond Cambridge has been a human highlight film his first year and a half on College Hill. He won Ivy League Freshman of the Year and this year he is READ MORE
Sarah Markey
South Kingstown School Board member Sarah Markey has been at the center of controversy since her election in November.
Markey, a top labor leader for the RI National Education Association, has drawn criticism by Democrats, Republicans and multiple municipal attorneys because READ MORE
Peter Neronha
Peter Neronha, the new Attorney General, takes over for the controversial Peter Kilmartin. The former U.S. Attorney for Providence now faces a far busier assignment than his federal one. READ MORE
Dylan Conley
Dylan Conley seems to be everywhere. Recently, GoLocal featured the attorney as one of Rhode Island's "Emerging Leaders."
He is the chairman of the Providence Board of Licenses and is in a hotbed READ MORE
Mike McGovern
Chef Mike McGovern -- formerly the chef at Red Stripe -- is taking the helm at East Greenwich's Kai Bar -- and now 241 Main Sports Bar and Grill.
Kai Bar is a combination of small plates and big drinks, “Kai offers a rotating small plates menu from an award-winning Chef and Craft Cocktails READ MORE
BIg Tourism Voids
Tourism is one of the most important sectors of the Rhode Island economy and two of the most important positions in the state are now vacant. READ MORE
