Five Columbia Faculty Members Named Sloan Research Fellows

Five Columbia faculty members have won 2025 Sloan Research fellowships, one of the most prestigious awards available to early-career scholars. The fellowships recognize “exceptional researchers at US and Canadian educational institutions, whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders.”

“The Sloan Research Fellows represent the very best of early-career science, embodying the creativity, ambition, and rigor that drive discovery forward,” Adam F. Falk, president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, said in a statement. “These extraordinary scholars are already making significant contributions, and we are confident they will shape the future of their fields in remarkable ways.”

This year, 126 young scientists across the U.S. and Canada were awarded the two-year, $75,000 fellowships. Since the first Sloan Research Fellowships were awarded in 1955, 186 faculty from Columbia University have received the awards.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is dedicated to improving the welfare of all through the advancement of scientific knowledge. It disburses approximately $80 million in grants each year.

Lydia B. Chilton

Lydia Chilton is an assistant professor of computer science. Her research focuses on human-centered AI—developing principles for combining the best of human and AI abilities to enhance design, innovation, and problem-solving. Projects include AI code synthesis for interactive app creation, interactive animation authoring, creating media for journalism, helping scientists communicate their work to the public, assisting farmers in adapting to climate change, and simulating human behavior to inform social policy decisions.

Milan Delor

Milan Delor is an assistant professor of chemistry. His lab aims to discover and leverage new interactions between light and matter to address fundamental challenges in energy, information, and quantum technologies. His research focuses on realizing highly efficient forms of energy flow in materials to go beyond current paradigms in semiconductor electronics, and on gaining more precise control over chemical reactions using light.

Vikram Gadagkar

Vikram Gadagkar, assistant professor of neuroscience in the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, explores how the brain evaluates both its own behaviors and the behaviors of others. His lab uses the courtship system of songbirds, combined with state-of-the-art computational, theoretical, and experimental approaches, to explore questions that have important implications for artificial intelligence algorithms as well as Parkinson’s disease and autism.

Raquel Queiroz

Raquel Queiroz, assistant professor of physics, investigates quantum phenomena of condensed matter systems. Her group explores how the geometry of electron wavefunctions crucially influences the physical properties of materials.

Evan D. Sadler

Evan D. Sadler is an associate professor of economics. His research focuses on the economics of networks, with an interest in how behaviors and information spread through social ties. He seeks to better understand how the structure of social networks influences the aggregation of information, the diffusion of innovations, and incentives to share or gather information. He also focuses on incentives for innovation and experimentation within organizations.