Sweeney Awarded Sloan Fellowship

Alison Sweeney, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, is one of three University of Pennsylvania faculty members among this year’s Sloan Fellowship recipients. Since 1955, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has granted yearly fellowships to early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements and potential identify them as the next generation of scientific leaders.

Sweeney is trained as a biologist but works in the Department of Physics and Astronomy as part of Penn’s Evolution Cluster. She studies a reflective protein that squid, giant clams, and other sea life have put to a variety of uses, such as camouflage or growing symbiotic algae within their bodies. Her research is focused on the interplay between the physics of the biological structures formed with this protein and the role they played in animals’ evolutionary history.

To qualify for the Sloan Fellowship, candidates must be nominated by their peers and selected by an independent panel of senior scholars. Each fellow receives a two-year, $50,000 award to further his or her research.

Read the full story here.

Learn more about Sweeney's research here.

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