Simons Society of Fellows Welcomes Two Senior Fellows, 14 Junior Fellows

The fellows join a cross-disciplinary environment that encourages experimentation and innovation among researchers based in New York City.

The Simons Foundation is pleased to welcome two new Senior Fellows and 14 Junior Fellows to its Simons Society of Fellows.

Formed in 2014, the Simons Society of Fellows encourages intellectual interactions across disciplines and research centers in the New York City area. The society comprises both Senior Fellows, generally distinguished researchers with years of service as researchers and educators, and Junior Fellows, outstanding early-career scientists and mathematicians. Junior Fellows receive mentorship and other opportunities for professional growth, such as conferences, workshops, annual retreats, weekly lectures and dinners.

The new Senior Fellows are Claude Desplan and Jalal Shatah of New York University (NYU).

Portrait of Claude Desplan — Claude Desplan, the Silver Professor of Biology and Neuroscience at New York University, has joined the Simons Society of Fellows as a Senior Fellow. Courtesy of Claude Desplan

Desplan is the Silver Professor of Biology and Neuroscience at NYU, where he has taught since 1999. He investigates the generation of neural diversity using the fruit fly (Drosophila) visual system and how stochastic decisions contribute to the diversification of sensory neurons.

Portrait of Jalal Shatah — Jalal Shatah, the Silver Professor of Mathematics at the Courant Institute, has joined the Simons Society of Fellows as a Senior Fellow. Courtesy of Jalal Shatah

Shatah is the Silver Professor of Mathematics at NYU’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. His research has made foundational contributions to nonlinear partial differential equations, dispersive equations, geometric wave equations, water waves and wave turbulence.

The 14 Junior Fellows in this year’s class hold expertise in a diverse range of fields, including learning and memory, particle physics, mathematics, and evolutionary biology. As Junior Fellows, they are supported by grants funded by Simons Foundation International and administered by the Simons Foundation. Through the program, they will receive support for up to three years of independent research with no teaching obligations.

The new Junior Fellows are:

Joshua Benabou, New York University
Particle Physics and Cosmology

Matei Coiculescu, New York University
Partial Differential Equations

Elaida Dimwamwa, New York University
Circuit Mechanisms of Predictive Coding

Alon Dogon, Columbia University
Group Theory

Michael Fernando, Rockefeller University
Neuroscience, Molecular Biology

Lorenzo Graziotto, Columbia University
Electronic Properties of Solid-State Matter

Minghao Guo, Columbia University
Computational Astrophysics

Kip Lacy, Columbia University
Evolutionary Biology

Destynie Medeiros, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Learning and Memory

Artur Riazanov, Columbia University
Complexity Theory

Frank J. Tucci, Rockefeller University
Structural Cell Biology

Hugo Vaysset, Columbia University
Evolutionary Genomics

Joseph Visone, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
CRISPR-Cas Biology

Jingyao Zhu, New York City College of Technology
Astronomy and Astrophysics