USA (Commonwealth Union)_ In a remarkable achievement, six Indian-origin researchers, including five Indian Americans and one Indian Canadian, have been named among the 126 early-career scholars selected for the prestigious 2025 Sloan Research Fellowship. Established in 1955, these fellowships honor exceptional researchers from US and Canadian academic institutions, recognizing their groundbreaking contributions and potential to lead in their respective fields. Adam F. Falk, president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, highlighted the significance of the award, stating, “The Sloan Research Fellows represent the very best of early-career science, embodying the creativity, ambition, and rigor that drive discovery forward. These extraordinary scholars are already making significant contributions, and we are confident they will shape the future of their fields in remarkable ways.”
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The six Indian-origin recipients of the 2025 Sloan Research Fellowship are:
- Himabindu Lakkaraju: An assistant professor at Harvard Business School and faculty affiliate in Computer Science, Indian American Lakkaraju specializes in artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and their real-world applications. She completed her Ph.D. and M.S. at Stanford University.
- Deepak Pathak: Serving as the Raj Reddy assistant professor in robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, Indian American Pathak focuses on AI, computer vision, machine learning, and robotics, specifically autonomous agents and self-supervised learning. He studied at IIT Kanpur and UC Berkeley.
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- Vikram Gadagkar: An assistant professor of neuroscience at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Indian American Gadagkar’s research delves into neural mechanisms of learning, decision-making, and adaptive behavior using computational and experimental neuroscience methods. He earned his degrees from Bangalore University, IISc, and Cornell University.
- Malavika Murugan: An assistant professor of biology at Emory University, Indian American Murugan focuses on neural mechanisms of social recognition through imaging, electrophysiology, and optogenetics. She completed her B.Tech. at Vellore Institute of Technology and her Ph.D. at Duke University.
- Shreya Saxena: An assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Yale University and a core member of the Wu Tsai Institute, Indian American Saxena’s work is centered around neural control, coordinated behavior, and closed-loop motor control using computational neuroscience. She studied at EPFL, Johns Hopkins, and MIT.
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- Bhavin J. Shastri: An Indian Canadian was also recognized for the 2025 fellowships. Bhavin is an assistant professor at Queen’s University in the Department of Engineering Physics and a faculty affiliate at the Vector Institute for AI. Shastri’s research focuses on neuromorphic photonics, quantum machine learning, and integrated photonic systems. He earned his Ph.D. from McGill University.
Each of the selected researchers will receive a two-year fellowship valued at $75,000, which can be used flexibly to further their research and innovation. The nominations for the 2026 Sloan Research Fellowships will open on July 15, 2026.
