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Promising young scholars chosen to represent UC at Nobel conference in Germany
The University of California announced today (June 1) that 28 exceptional young scientists from its campuses and affiliated national laboratories have been selected for the fourth class of UC President’s Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Fellows and the opportunity to join Nobel laureates from around the world at the 2023 Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Germany .
“These fellows are among the best and brightest of the University’s young ambassadors to the scientific world,” said UC President Michael V. Drake, M.D. “We are proud of their accomplishments and look forward to supporting them as they grow in their careers. Participating in the Lindau meetings will set them up for future success.”
The fellows program, now in its fourth year, is funded by UC Investments and UC’s National Laboratories to allow a select group of UC doctoral and postdoctoral students to attend the annual event. The one-of-a-kind scholarly summit, now in its 72nd year, will be held June 25–June 30, 2023, this year with a focus on physiology and medicine.
Since 1953, more than 35,000 students, Ph.D. candidates and postdocs have taken part in the highly competitive program. With this year, the UC President’s Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings Fellows now number 80 from the 10 UC campuses and 23 from the UC-affiliated national laboratories. Because the Lindau meetings were conducted virtually for two years of the coronavirus pandemic, several UC fellows who were unable to attend in person during that time will now join this year’s class in Lindau.
“This five-day meeting of the minds can be truly life-changing for UC’s brilliant young scientists,” said UC Chief Investment Officer Jagdeep Singh Bachher, who conceived of the fellowships. “In addition to the beautiful backdrop of the island of Lindau, the chance to engage with and learn from their elders who have been awarded a Nobel Prize makes this event truly extraordinary. And the relationships sparked among the hundreds of young peers broadens scientific, and friendship, networks around the world.”
“We are honored to again sponsor a remarkable group of young researchers from our national laboratories to participate in this unique event,” said Craig Leasure, vice president for National Laboratories. “The fellows have already accomplished great things and I’m sure Lindau will inspire them to achieve even more for UC and the world.”
The diverse group of UC fellows were nominated by UC faculty and chosen after submitting an essay, letters of recommendation, an evaluation of their research accomplishments, and approval by the Lindau meetings organization in Germany. A UC work group that included a Nobel Prize laureate narrowed down the candidates, who were then approved by Drake, Bachher and Leasure.
This year’s fellows from UC campuses for the physiology/medicine meetings are:
Gregory Poore UC San Diego
Jacob Schimelman UC San Diego
Sean Harvey UC San Diego
Julia Gensheimer UCLA
Mirian De Siqueira UCLA
Aileen Nava UCLA
Rachel Sousa UC Irvine
Frederick Arnold UC Irvine
Hersh Bhargava UC San Francisco
Alexander Merriman UC San Francisco
Allison Chau UC Santa Barbara
Julia Chung UC Santa Barbara
Elizabeth Rizor UC Santa Barbara
Akanksha Thawani UC Berkeley
Nithya Sivakumar UC Davis
Regina Agulto UC Davis
Raman Goyal UC Davis
Elena Kozlova UC Riverside
Zoe Figueroa UC Riverside
Christi Turner UC Merced
Those selected from the National Laboratories include:
Wonjin Choi Lawrence Livermore National Lab
Sean Leonard Lawrence Livermore National Lab
Sijia Huang Lawrence Livermore National Lab
Sarah Sandholtz Lawrence Livermore National Lab
Zachary Sasiene Los Alamos National Lab
Joshua Woods Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Alexia Crosby Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Michael Kosicki Lawrence Berkeley National Lab