L’Oréal USA Fellowships For Women In Science announced fellows for this year. The 2011 fellows were selected from a competitive pool of candidates by an interdisciplinary review panel and a distinguished jury of nine acknowledged scientists and engineers.
Photo: L’Oréal USA For Women in Science

A national awards program, which is a national extension of the global L’Oréal—UNESCO For Women in Science program, was created by L’Oréal USA to support the women in science and to encourage women to continue careers in scientific fields. Since the program’s inception in 2003, 40 post-doctoral women scientists were awarded grants from L’Oréal USA to continue researches in the life and physical/material sciences, as well as mathematics, engineering and computer science.

The fellows were selected according to their exceptional academic records and intellectual merit, clearly-articulated research proposals with the potential for scientific advancement and outstanding letters of recommendation from advisers and overall excellence. The process was managed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

This year winners are: Dr. Trisha Andrew, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA —organic chemist in the field of organic electronics; Dr. Karlin Bark, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA— mechanical engineer in the field of haptics; Dr. Sasha Devore, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY— neuroscientist examining health sciences and technology; Dr. R. Blythe Towal, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA—biomedical engineer in the field of computational neuroscience; Dr. Tijana Ivanovic, Harvard Medical School, with work to be carried out at the University of Colorado at Boulder—virologist in the research field of virus entry into cells.

In addition the L’Oréal USA Fellowships For Women In Science offers the fellows professional development workshops, facilitated by the AAAS.

The L’Oreal USA Fellowships For Women In Science Award ceremony will take place in the Kennedy Caucus room in Washington DC on September 15.

In March five women scientists recieved L’Oréal—UNESCO For Women in Science Awards.