The award recognizes early-career scientists whose accomplishments mark them as the next generation of leaders.
Grant Rotskoff and Steven Banik are among eight Stanford faculty to receive the 2026 Sloan Research Fellowships, which honor scientists in the United States and Canada.
“The Sloan Research Fellows are among the most promising early-career researchers in the U.S. and Canada, already driving meaningful progress in their respective disciplines,” said Stacie Bloom, president and chief executive officer of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, in a press release. “We look forward to seeing how these exceptional scholars continue to unlock new scientific advancements, redefine their fields, and foster the well-being and knowledge of all.”
The two-year fellowships are awarded annually to researchers whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders. Fellows receive $75,000 that can be used flexibly to advance their research. This year’s Sloan Research Fellows from Stanford are:
Steven Banik, assistant professor of chemistry in the School of Humanities and Sciences
Juliane Begenau, associate professor of finance at the Graduate School of Business
Tatsunori Hashimoto, assistant professor of computer science in the School of Engineering
Guosong Hong, assistant professor of materials science and engineering in the School of Engineering and Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute Faculty Scholar
Grant Rotskoff, assistant professor of chemistry in the School of Humanities and Sciences
Christoph Thaiss, assistant professor of pathology in the School of Medicine
Caroline Trippel, assistant professor of computer science and of electrical engineering in the School of Engineering
Shoshana Vasserman, associate professor of economics at the Graduate School of Business
This year, the fellowship was awarded to 126 scientists from 44 institutions across the U.S. and Canada. Since the first Sloan Research Fellowships were awarded in 1955, 259 faculty from Stanford have received the award, including this year’s winners.
To be eligible for the fellowship, scholars must conduct research in chemistry, computer science, Earth system science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, or physics. Candidates are nominated by fellow scientists, and the winners are selected by independent panels of senior scholars based on each candidate’s research accomplishments, creativity, and potential to become a leader in their field.
For more information, visit the Sloan Research Fellowship site.
Banik is also a member of Stanford Bio-X, the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance, and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, and an institute scholar at Sarafan ChEM-H. Begenau is also a center fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). Hashimoto is also a faculty affiliate at the Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI). Hong is also a member of Bio-X and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Rotskoff is also a member of Bio-X and the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering (ICME) and a faculty fellow at Sarafan ChEM-H. Thaiss is also a member of Bio-X, the Stanford Medicine Children’s Health Center for IBD and Celiac Disease, and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. Trippel is also a member of the Stanford SystemX Alliance and the Stanford Center for Automated Reasoning. Vasserman is also a center fellow at SIEPR.
This story was originally published by the Stanford Report.