Three Illinois scientists are among 126 recipients of the 2025 Sloan Research Fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. According to the foundation, the awardees represent “the very best of early-career science, embodying the creativity, ambition, and rigor that drive discovery forward.”
Cancer Center at Illinois (CCIL) member Angad Mehta is among the three Illinois’ recipients of the prestiguous award. Lisa Olshansky, professor of chemistry, and Yingjie Zhang, professor of materials science and engineering, are also recipients of the award.
Mehta is a T. M. Balthazor Faculty Scholarin chemistry whose work uses evolutionary observations to design synthetic biology approaches for answering fundamental molecular questions in biological systems and develop novel translational platforms for human health.
The focus areas of his lab include directed evolution to combat emerging viruses, directed endosymbiosis for evolutionary studies and synthetic biology, and engineering selectivity in targeting cancer. He joined the University of Illinois faculty in the fall of 2019 and also is affiliated with bioengineering, biochemistry, the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and the Cancer Center at Illinois. Some of Mehta’s recent notable awards include the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students at Illinois, a Scialog Fellowship and a Moore-Simon Foundation award from the Simons Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
The Sloan Foundation is a not-for-profit, mission-driven grantmaking institution dedicated to improving the welfare of all through the advancement of scientific knowledge. Founded in 1934 by industrialist Alfred P. Sloan Jr., the Foundation disburses approximately $80 million in grants each year in four broad areas: direct support of research in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and economics; initiatives to increase the quality and diversity of scientific institutions and the science workforce; projects to develop or leverage technology to empower research; and efforts to enhance and deepen public engagement with science and scientists.
CCIL member Angad Mehta, professor of chemistry
Editor’s notes:
To reach Angad Mehta, email apm8@illinois.edu.
The original story was written by Lois Yoksoulian, published by the Illinois News Bureau on February 18, 2025, and it can be accessed here.