Robert Hough, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been selected to receive a 2020 Sloan Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. He is one of 126 awardees from more than 60 institutions in the United States and Canada chosen for this prestigious honor, which comes with a $75,000 two-year fellowship.
The Sloan Research Fellowship honors scholars whose creativity, leadership, and independent research achievements make them some of the most promising researchers working today. The Sloan Foundation recognizes Sloan Fellows as “rising stars” and “the next generation of scientific leaders.”
“It is an honor to receive the Sloan Research Fellowship,” Hough said. “I’m planning to use the fellowship to help develop my research team at Stony Brook.”
Hough’s current research concerns questions related to the enumeration of low degree number fields, extending some works cited in Manjul Bhargava’s Fields medal, and studies the asymptotic mixing of large statistical physics models such as the abelian sandpile model and Kac model. A discussion of Dr. Hough’s work on the 15-puzzle recently appeared in Quanta.
“We are very happy for our colleague Bob Hough on his receipt of a 2020 Sloan Research Fellowship,” said Alexander Kirillov, professor and interim chair of the Department of Mathematics at Stony Brook University. “These fellowships are among the most prestigious awards for early career scientists, recognizing outstanding research and future potential, and winners of this award are among the best in the field. We congratulate Bob on joining this distinguished cohort, which also includes several other faculty of our Department including Radu Laza, Raanan Schul, Marcus Khuri and Aleksey Zinger. We are certain to see many new great results from Bob in the future.”
Fellowships are awarded in eight scientific fields – chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and physics. Administered and funded by the Sloan Foundation, the Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded in close coordination with the scientific community. To qualify, candidates must first be nominated by their fellow scientists, and are subsequently selected by independent panels of senior scholars.
“To receive a Sloan Research Fellowship is to be told by your fellow scientists that you stand out among your peers,” says Adam F. Falk, president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “A Sloan Research Fellow is someone whose drive, creativity, and insight makes them a researcher to watch.”
Past Sloan Research Fellows include many towering figures in the history of science, including physicists Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann, and game theorist John Nash. Fifty fellows have received a Nobel Prize in their respective field, 17 have won the Fields Medal in mathematics, 69 have received the National Medal of Science, and 19 have won the John Bates Clark Medal in economics, including every winner since 2007. A database of former Sloan Research Fellows can be found here.
— Rachel Rodriguez
Awesome well deserved honor .
Bob is a brilliant, hard working professional and has earned any awards that come his way !