Two outstanding young professors from UCLA are among 126 scientists and scholars in the United States and Canada to receive 2014 Sloan Research Fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
 
The fellowships are awarded to exceptional young researchers who are "rising stars, the next generation of scientific leaders" and who push "the boundaries of scientific knowledge in unprecedented ways," the New York–based foundation said.
 
UCLA's 2014 recipients are:
 
Lohmueller, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology who joined UCLA's faculty last year, conducts research on the population genetics and genomics of humans and other species. He develops and implements computational approaches to interpret genetic variation data obtained from new sequencing technologies. His research focuses primarly on reconstructing population history, determining the role of natural selection in shaping genetic variation and assessing how genetic variation affects disease risk.
 
Sherstov, an assistant professor of computer science, conducts research in theoretical computer science, including computational complexity theory, computational learning theory and quantum computing. The recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Sherstov was born and raised in Kazakhstan in the former Soviet Union.
 
Sloan Research Fellowships are intended to enhance the careers of exceptional young scientists and scholars in chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, evolutionary and computational molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences, and physics. The philanthropic foundation was established in 1934. For more information, visit www.sloan.org.  
 
UCLA is California’s largest university, with an enrollment of more than 40,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The UCLA College of Letters and Science and the university’s 11 professional schools feature renowned faculty and offer 337 degree programs and majors. UCLA is a national and international leader in the breadth and quality of its academic, research, health care, cultural, continuing education and athletic programs. Seven alumni and six faculty have been awarded the Nobel Prize.
 
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.