Two Sciences Faculty Receive 2015 Sloan Research Fellowship

Two Georgia Tech faculty are among 126 scientists in North America who have been awarded a 2015 Sloan Research Fellowship, a two-year grant given to early career scholars to support their pursuit of scientific knowledge.

Danielle Dixson, an assistant professor in the School of Biology, investigates the influence sensory cues have on the behavior of coral reef organisms. Her recent work, featured on the cover of the journal Science, found that coral larvae and juvenile fishes can smell the difference between a reef that is unhealthy and one that is a suitable home. She has also published recent work showing that acidic oceans make sharks less interested in their food.

Dixson conducts research missions around the globe to study coral reef ecology, and the Sloan Research Fellowship will allow her to continue conducting fieldwork vital to her research.

“I am very honored and excited to have been selected as a Sloan Fellow,” Dixson said. “These funds will allow my lab to conduct research in Belize investigating how larval fishes and corals use chemical cues in settlement site selection and predator evasion.”

Chris Reinhard, an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, seeks to understand the ways in which biological metabolism and the chemistry of Earth's oceans and atmosphere are coupled and shape one another.

He is currently working with the NASA Astrobiology Institute, using the lessons learned from reconstructing the history of ocean-atmosphere chemistry to inform the search for life within and beyond our solar system.

“The work I do thrives on collaboration; it is typically interdisciplinary and broad in scope,” Reinhard said. “I've been exceptionally fortunate to have the chance to work with and learn from some incredible people in my young career.”

Awarded in eight scientific and technical fields — chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and physics — candidates are nominated by fellow scientists. An independent panel of senior scholars selects the winning fellows.