Prestigious Sloan Fellowship awarded to 鶹AV astrophysicist
鶹AV Astrophysicist Matt Dobbs has been awarded a
prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship. Dobbs, a Canada Research
Chair in Astro-particle Physics, investigates a big subject: the
origins and evolution of the universe.
Dobbs does this by studying cosmic microwave background (CMB)
radiation to shed light on the fundamental structures governing the
universe. He joins an illustrious group – 38 Sloan Research Fellows
have gone on to win Nobel Prizes. The Fellowships are awarded to
“early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise” in
recognition of the fact that financial assistance at this point in
a researcher’s career is often crucial to his or her future
scientific success.
Of the total $5.9 million U.S. awarded annually, Dobbs will receive
$50,000 over two years. Dobbs explains his research as being about
“fundamental cosmology and good old-fashioned adventure… we’re
building instruments to image the earliest moments of the
universe’s evolution, and then taking them to the very corners of
the globe and beyond – the geographic South Pole, Chile’s Atacama
plateau at 5100m altitude, and the top of the atmosphere aboard a
NASA stratospheric balloon.”
Dobbs believes CMB radiation may reveal clues about the beginnings
of the universe, symmetries within its structures, and eventually
the Grand Unified Theory through which physicists seek to explain
fundamental interactions. Congratulating Dobbs for his achievement,
鶹AV’s Dean of Science Martin Grant is “proud to be in a Faculty
with scientists of Matt's quality.” Dobbs in turn believes that
“success is not just about scientific excellence, but also about
getting things done in extreme environments – I’ll be relying on
the abilities of our exceptional team of students, post-docs, and
collaborators as much as my own.”
The Fellowship is awarded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a
philanthropic, not-for-profit institution based in New York City
that makes grants to support original research and broad-based
education related to science, technology, and economic
performance.