The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has awarded prestigious Sloan Research Fellowships to Thatchaphol Saranurak and Andrew Owens, both esteemed computer engineers from the College of Engineering. These fellowships are known for recognizing the most promising early-career researchers in the United States and Canada. The award underscores their innovation, creativity, and significant contributions to their fields, distinguishing them as future leaders.
Sloan Research Fellowships, among the most competitive awards, provide a two-year, $75,000 grant. This funding is intended to enhance research opportunities for those holding a doctorate in fields such as chemistry, computer science, and physics. The fellowship is a testament to an institution’s ability to attract top-tier talent.
Saranurak, a Morris Wellman Faculty Development Assistant Professor, is pioneering algorithms that efficiently compute graph networks, crucial for systems like social networks and traffic systems. His methods offer significant improvements by allowing networks to adapt without full recalculations, benefiting systems described as graph networks, such as aiding emergency responses in disaster scenarios. “I feel truly honored to receive the Sloan Research Fellowship,” he noted, expressing gratitude for his mentors and colleagues.
Owens, on the other hand, is advancing machine perception systems, enabling learning from unlabeled multisensory data. His work with synchronized audio and video has diverse applications, including predicting sounds from silent videos and enhancing robot grasping through tactile and visual signals. Owens has also innovated in detecting fake images. “I’m incredibly grateful to be receiving this award,” he said, emphasizing the support it provides to his research group in developing autonomous computer vision systems.
Since the inception of the Sloan Research Fellowships in 1955, University of Michigan faculty have been honored with 183 awards, highlighting the institution’s legacy in fostering cutting-edge research.
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