News: Awards

Zoe Yan received a 2025 Young Investigator Award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research for her exceptional ability and promise in basic research.

Arvind Murugan was named a 2025 Schmidt Polymath to acknowledge and support his novel research.

Dmitri Talapin received the ACS Award in Colloid Chemistry in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the field.

Joshua Wagner, a graduate student with the Steve Sibener Group, has been named the recipient of the distinguished Dorothy M. and Earl S. Hoffman Award from the AVS (American Vacuum Society). 

Michelle Brann has received the 2025 ACS Astrochemistry Dissertation Award in recognition for the significant contributions made during her doctoral studies with Prof. Steven J. Sibener.

JFI Travel Award enables trainees to attend and present their research at a scientific conference between 2/1/2025-1/31/2026.  The award will be for $600 towards reimbursement of travel expenses (hotel & transportation).  Applications for the forthcoming year will be considered starting 6/1.

Eligibility & Selection Criteria: (1) Be a graduate student or post-doctoral trainee in the James Franck Institute at the time of application and travel. (2) Priority will be given to those who have not previously received an award. (3) Personal Statement, Budget and Note from Advisor will be the primary means of selection. (4) Consideration will be made to distribute awards equitably across JFI groups. No more than two applications per group per.

Margaret Gardel & Peter Littlewood have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences

Vincenzo Vitelli was named a CNRS Fellow-Ambassador, which invites leading researchers to visit and mentor with French laboratories.

Arvind Murugan was awarded the 2025 Tel Aviv University International Prize in Biophysics for his "pivotal contributions to understanding the informatics of various biological processes, and specifically for leveraging molecular complexity of disordered systems for efficient physical computation and learning." The prize awards researchers for originality and excellence in the field of Biophysics.

Both Sarah King and Luca Delacrétaz were awarded 2025 Sloan Research Fellowships, which recognize faculty for their creativity and innovation as well as potential for leadership in their fields.