Two scientists named Sloan Fellows

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowships have been awarded to two faculty scientists: Robert Almgren, Assistant Professor in Mathematics, and Edward Blucher, Assistant Professor in Physics. Almgren and Blucher will each receive $30,000 in research funds.

Almgren's research in applied mathematics is focused on understanding the fundamental processes that underlie pattern formation in physical systems -- what causes the intricate patterns of snowflakes to form, for example. Almgren received his Ph.D. in computational and applied mathematics from Princeton in 1989. After doing postdoctoral work at the Courant Institute in New York, he joined the Chicago faculty in 1992.

Blucher is working with physicists at Chicago and at Fermilab in studies of weak interactions. These interactions are responsible for the decay of heavy nuclei. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell in 1988 and worked for five years at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland before joining the Chicago faculty in 1993.

The University's Sloan Fellows are among 100 young scientists and economists in the United States and Canada selected to receive this year's awards. The fellowships are awarded to young scientists in the early stages of their careers on the basis of their exceptional promise to contribute to the advancement of knowledge. Candidates for the fellowships are nominated by department chairs and other senior scholars.