Two Professors Named Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists Finalists

Ivan Z. Corwin, professor of mathematics, and Harris H. Wang, associate professor of systems biology and pathology and cell biology, were named finalists for the 2023 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists in Physical Sciences & Engineering.

The award is the largest unrestricted prize for early career scientists and honors outstanding young scientists and engineers under the age of 42. It was established by the Blavatnik Family Foundation in 2007 and is independently administered by the New York Academy of Sciences. The award recognizes America’s top faculty-level scientists in three scientific disciplinary categories: Life Sciences, Chemistry, and Physical Sciences & Engineering.

Corwin was recognized for developing probabilistic mathematical models of interacting particle systems. Such models are important for understanding phenomena as diverse as crystal growth, traffic flow, noisy data, and the spread of disease within a population.

Wang was recognized for developing methods for studying the spatiotemporal organization of a microbiome and editing the metagenome of the microbiome. Using these approaches, Wang mapped the spatial arrangement of microbes in complex communities and programmed them with new functions. 

“I congratulate all the laureates and finalists whose outstanding research gives us hope for the future,” Len Blavatnik, who is head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation and a member of the President’s Council of the New York Academy of Sciences, said in a statement.