Marko Loncar named a 2010 Alfred P. Sloan Fellow

February 19, 2010 - Marko Loncar, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, in the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), is among the 118 outstanding young scientists, mathematicians, and economists named as Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellows for 2010.

The winners are faculty members at 56 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada who are conducting research at the frontiers of physics, chemistry, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, computer science, economics, mathematics and neuroscience. Seven winners, including Loncar, are from Harvard University.

Loncar's research focuses on phenomena resulting from the interaction of light and matter on a nano-scale level. These phenomena include efficient light confinement and emission within photonic crystals, light generation in engineered semiconductors (e.g. nanowires, quantum dots, quantum cascade lasers), manipulation of nano-scale objects using guided waves. He is interested in development of functional nano-photonic devices, and their integration into systems, that can be used for optical communication and optical signal processiong, life sciences and quantum optics.

He plans to use the Sloan award to further research in two specific areas: reconfigurable and programmable nanophotonics and diamond nanophotonics and quantum optics.

The Sloan Research Fellowships have been awarded since 1955, initially in only three scientific fields: physics, chemistry, and mathematics. Since then, 38 Sloan Research Fellows have gone on to win the Nobel Prize in their fields; 57 have received the National Medal of Science; and 14 have been awarded the Fields Medal, the top honor in mathematics. Although Sloan Research Fellowships in economics began only in 1983, Sloan Fellows have subsequently accounted for 9 of the 14 winners of the John Bates Clark Medal, generally considered the most prestigious honor for young economists.

Grants of $50,000 for a two-year period are administered by each Fellow’s institution. Once chosen, Sloan Research Fellows are free to pursue whatever lines of inquiry are of most interest to them, and they are permitted to employ Fellowship funds in a wide variety of ways to further their research aims.

For a complete list of winners, visit http://www.sloan.org/pressroom/item/458/2010-sloan-research-fellowships