Flatiron Institute Scientists Valentin Crépel and Ore Gottlieb Named Blavatnik Regional Award Honorees
The Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) announced today that Flatiron Institute researchers Valentin Crépel and Ore Gottlieb will be honored as a laureate and a finalist, respectively, in the 2025 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists.
The Blavatnik Regional Awards recognize outstanding postdoctoral scientists from academic research institutions in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The award comes with a $30,000 prize for laureates in each category and $10,000 for finalists. Laureates and finalists will be honored on Tuesday, October 7, at the annual Blavatnik Awards Ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History.
Crépel is a research fellow at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Quantum Physics (CCQ), where he studies systems containing a large number of interacting quantum particles, such as electrons, atoms or ions. He is named a Blavatnik Regional Awards Laureate for his work advancing theories describing stacked, single-atom-thick materials, enabling easier control of their properties for applications in quantum technology. Before joining CCQ, he completed his Ph.D. in condensed matter theory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Gottlieb is a research fellow in the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA), where he studies high-energy phenomena such as gamma ray bursts, black holes and supernovae. He is recognized as a finalist in the Blavatnik Regional Awards for shifting the paradigm describing neutron star mergers, giving scientists a roadmap for finding and studying these rare events. Before joining CCA, he received his Ph.D. in physics and astronomy at Tel Aviv University and was a Rothschild/CIERA Fellow at Northwestern University.
“Postdoctoral researchers are the unsung heroes behind many of today’s scientific advances, and they play a critical role in the pipeline of talent and discovery in the sciences,” says Nicholas B. Dirks, NYAS president and CEO. “Their dedication and innovation will continue to drive progress across disciplines — from medicine to engineering. As we celebrate National Postdoc Appreciation Week, the academy is especially proud to recognize the 2025 Blavatnik Regional Awards laureates and finalists for their extraordinary achievements and exciting future contributions.”
