IRVINE : UCI Instructor Wins Fellowship

UC Irvine physics theorist Clare Yu has won a Sloan Research Fellowship, which will provide $30,000 over two years to support her research, university officials said.

Yu, an assistant professor of physics, is one of 89 outstanding young scientists chosen in the United States and Canada to receive Alfred P. Sloan Foundation awards. The winners were chosen from more than 500 candidates by a panel of distinguished scientists.

Yu’s work focuses on the theory of condensed matter, a category that includes both liquids and solids. She is also interested in superconductivity of materials, magnetism and the interaction between electrons and sound waves in matter.

These grants allow recipients to pursue their research in a wide variety of ways, a flexibility that is especially important to young scientists trying to establish their own independent projects.

Since 1955, the Sloan Foundation has awarded nearly $58 million to more than 2,600 young researchers. Sixteen past fellows have gone on to win Nobel prizes.