Fellowship: Sloan Research Fellowship is considered to be the largest and most prestigious early career award for young talent in science, mathematics and engineering in the US and Canada. This year, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has selected a total of 126 brilliant researchers and out of these, four names are of Indian origin. These are Ayush Jain, Arun Kumar Kuchibhotla, Aditi Raghunathan and Anand Natarajan. These four have received a fellowship of 75,000 US dollars i.e. about Rs 63 lakh for two years. This money is completely free-flowing, meaning these people can spend it wherever they want without any restrictions in their research. This award is special because it is given to those young scientists who are at the most important juncture of their career and who have the potential to become leaders in their field in future. Many of the first people selected as Sloan Fellows have later won the Nobel Prize, Fields Medal and Turing Award, which means that these awards are the first indication of future scientific stars.
Who are the four Indian-American fellows?
1. Ayush Jain: Master of Cryptography and Secure Computation
Ayush Jain, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, is working on the most important thing in today’s digital world, cryptography, that is, the methods by which our online data, banking, messaging and every digital communication remains secure. His focus is on those mathematical foundations which can protect against hacking in future also. In particular, he is working on post-quantum cryptography because the upcoming quantum computers can break old encryption. His research directly strengthens cyber security.
2.Arun Kumar Kuchibhotla: Statistics and reliable predictions
Arun Kumar Kuchibhotla, associate professor of statistics and data science at Carnegie Mellon University, is tackling the fundamental problems of uncertainty and predictive learning. The biggest problem in machine learning is how to know the truth about how accurately the model is predicting. Arun is building honest statistical methods that give correct results even in cases with complex and large data. They are being used in financial forecasting, health data and economic analysis.
3.Aditi Raghunathan: Mastermind of safe and reliable AI
Aditi Raghunathan, assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, is working on today’s biggest concern: how to make AI trustworthy and secure. She finds reasons for AI systems to fail and creates ways to make them sustainable in the real world. Their AI Reliability Lab works in this direction. His research ensures the safety of AI in areas like healthcare, finance and autonomous systems. She wants AI to work correctly and transparently even in unpredictable circumstances.
4.Anand Natarajan: One who understands the limits of quantum computing
Anand Natarajan, associate professor at MIT and principal researcher at MIT’s CSAIL and MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, works on quantum complexity theory. This theory sees what can be computed fast in a quantum computer. Their work helps us understand the true strengths and limitations of quantum computers. This is the bridge between theoretical computer science and new quantum technology. This will impact cryptography, quantum simulation and future computing hardware.
What is Sloan Fellowship?
This program, which has been running since 1955, selects young scientists who are in the prime of their careers and who can become leaders in their fields. Selection is based on rigorous nomination and peer review. Previous Sloan Fellows include several Nobel, Fields Medal, and Turing Award winners. This fellowship gives researchers freedom from the tension of funding so that they can work on big and risky ideas.
Why is this achievement special?
These four Indian-American researchers are working in fields that will give new direction to the technology of cryptography, AI safety, statistics and quantum computing in the coming years. Their fellowship shows how big an impact Indian-origin scientists are making at the global level. In the last few years, many Indian-origin researchers have been elected Sloan Fellows. These awards also show how fast science can progress by getting a good fellowship in the early career. These people will now make huge contributions in their field in the next few years. Be it creating a secure digital world, reliable AI or exploring new boundaries of quantum computing, their work will influence the entire world. This success of Indian-origin scientists is a matter of pride.
