Simons Foundation Announces Third Class of Pivot Fellows

The Simons Foundation is pleased to announce its 2024 class of Pivot Fellows. This program supports researchers who have a strong track record of success and achievement in their current field, as well as a deep interest, curiosity and drive to make contributions to a new discipline.

Launched in 2022, the Pivot Fellowship is open to faculty in the natural sciences, mathematics, engineering, data science and computer science at academic institutions or equivalent positions elsewhere. The fellowships provide salary support as well as research, travel and professional development funding. Mentors also receive a $50,000 research fund to support training the fellow in their lab. At the end of the fellowship year, fellows will be invited to apply for a 3-year research award in the new field for up to $1.5 million over the three-year period.

Meet the 2024 Pivot Fellows:

Alan Dorsey

Alan Dorsey is a professor of physics at the University of Georgia, where he also serves as associate chief information officer for research computing. A theoretical condensed matter physicist, his research focuses on understanding the behavior of quantum matter under extreme conditions such as low temperatures and high magnetic fields. He has made significant contributions to the theoretical understanding of magnetic flux phases in superconductors and, more recently, the hydrodynamic modes of supersolid phases of matter.

As a Simons Foundation Pivot Fellow, Dorsey will transition to geophysical fluid dynamics and climate modeling under the mentorship of Brad Marston, a professor of physics at Brown University and director of the Brown Theoretical Physics Center. Dorsey will leverage his expertise in condensed matter physics to explore recently discovered topological features in equatorial planetary waves and to expand this work to include the effects of nonlinearities and stratification on wave propagation. He plans to embed this work in a study of an atmospheric phenomenon called the quasi-biennial oscillation: periodic reversal of zonal east-to-west winds that encircle the planet and act from six to 50 kilometers above Earth’s surface. Every 28–29 months, these winds undergo a dramatic shift, transitioning from easterly (blowing from the east) to westerly (blowing from the west) and vice versa, in a descending pattern from the upper to lower stratosphere. This oscillation of the winds plays a significant role in regulating Earth’s atmospheric circulation and has far-reaching impacts on global weather patterns.

Robinson “Wally” Fulweiler

Robinson W. “Wally” Fulweiler is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment and the Department of Biology at Boston University. She leads the Coastal Ecology and Biogeochemistry Laboratory, which focuses on answering fundamental questions about energy flow and biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen, phosphorus, silicon, carbon and oxygen in the environment. She is especially interested in how anthropogenic activities affect the ecology and elemental cycling of ecosystems on a variety of scales, from local nutrient loading to global climate change. Her latest research is centered on the transformations of elements across the land-ocean continuum, the ultimate fate of nitrogen in the marine environment, the impact of climate change on benthic-pelagic coupling and the role of coastal systems in greenhouse gas budgets. More recently, her group has been developing new instrumentation to enhance measurements of key biogeochemical processes. This instrumentation will aid in constraining coastal nutrient and carbon budgets and will help increase access to low-cost technology for democratizing science.

Fulweiler will use the Simons Foundation Pivot Fellowship to lay the foundations of a research program in data science. She will be mentored by Mark Crovella, a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Boston University and an expert in data science and machine learning, with a focus on computational biology, social impacts of computing and computer networking. Together, they will use cutting-edge data science methods to answer the following questions: How do we distinguish quantitatively between different types of coastal systems? How can we place the discussion of coastal system types into a taxonomy with objectively testable criteria? These questions are important because coastal ecosystems have a disproportionate impact on the functioning of our planet and are also on the front line of human impacts. By using the available data and harnessing the power of machine learning models, they will define emergent ecosystem properties for the creation of a data-driven taxonomy for coastal environments.

Nicole Rust

Nicole C. Rust is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research combines behavioral, neural and computational approaches to understand our brain’s remarkable ability to remember what we’ve seen, including where and how visual memories are stored. As a complement to this foundational research, she has worked to develop new therapies to treat memory dysfunction. She is also the author of the forthcoming book Elusive Cures: Why Neuroscience Hasn’t Solved Brain Disorders — and How We Can Change That. In it, she argues that treating a brain disorder is more like redirecting a hurricane than fixing a domino chain of cause and effect and that only once we embrace the idea of the brain as a complex system will we have any hope of improving treatments and cures for brain and mental illness.

Rust has a long history of studying vision and memory, investigating how our brains drive answers to questions like “Have you seen this before?” Work from her research group has described the events leading up to our perception that something is familiar, including where and how our brains store memories. One of the goals of her future research is to understand the equivalent of one of the brain’s most mysterious functions — mood — including what drives our mood percepts and answers to questions like, “How happy are you right now?” The goal of Rust’s Fellowship is to determine ways to approach the subjectivity of mood in a manner that can facilitate a rigorous, computationally grounded understanding of mood percepts and how they are shaped by the brain. In that pursuit, she plans to bring a systems neuroscience perspective to mood research that parallels the approaches that have led to breakthroughs in perception, memory and decision-making. Her Simons Foundation Pivot Fellowship will be guided by the mentorship of Yael Niv at Princeton, whose group has developed a compelling, state-of-the-art theory about what mood is and why it exists.

Saket Navlakha

Saket Navlakha is an associate professor in the Simons Center for Quantitative Biology at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. His lab studies algorithms in nature, i.e., how collections of molecules, cells and organisms process information and solve computational problems. The goal of Navlakha’s research is to use the language of computer science to understand the problem-solving strategies that biological systems have evolved to survive in the natural world. His current work focuses on identifying the data structures and algorithms implemented by neural circuits in the brain and branching networks of plant architectures to solve a range of computational problems.

For the Simons Pivot Fellowship, his goal is to explore how the adaptive immune system solves machine learning problems. This will lead to new conceptual frameworks to understand the design of the adaptive immune system and how it overcomes challenges related to learning, generalization and discrimination. It will also reveal the fundamental algorithms (grounded in molecular and cellular mechanisms) driving self-protection and lead to improved solutions for cybersecurity and defense systems, which face similar challenges as biological defense systems.

James Wray

James Wray is a professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Wray’s current research focuses on the geoscience of Mars, not only because it is the planet most obviously Earth-like in terms of potential surface habitability, but also due to the wealth of data available from it. His dream of one day applying this deep knowledge of one nearby planet to understand others far more distant — for instance, planets orbiting other stars — became more feasible when, in 2017 and 2019, the first two small planetary objects from outside our solar system were found passing through it. Upcoming telescope surveys should detect more such interstellar objects, a subset of which may be reachable by spacecraft, providing our first glimpses of macroscopic solids accreted elsewhere in the galaxy.

As a Simons Foundation Pivot Fellow, Wray will work with Karen Meech of the University of Hawaii, who led the paper characterizing the first known interstellar object. He will immerse himself in studies of solar system bodies much smaller than Mars (like asteroids and comets) to better understand how they record the processes of planet formation and space weathering, as well as to gain direct experience proposing and analyzing observations of them with large telescopes. He will analyze data from one of the known interstellar objects to better constrain its basic properties and will work with Meech and colleagues to develop concepts for a potential future mission to a similar target.

Axel Saenz Rodriguez

Axel Saenz Rodriguez is an assistant professor in the mathematics department at Oregon State University. He works on probability theory and mathematical physics related to models in non-equilibrium statistical and quantum mechanics. Saenz Rodriguez develops exact formulas suitable for scaling analysis, in space and time, through a wide variety of mathematical tools in algebra, geometry, representation theory, combinatorics, complex analysis and functional analysis. His research focuses on the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class, a collection of probability processes with emergent limiting random behavior given by the “KPZ fixed point” that arises in a wide class of one-dimensional processes with competing dynamics from short-range interactions and smoothing mechanisms. Saenz Rodriguez’s research aims to obtain a mathematically-friendly characterization and concrete applications for the KPZ universality class.

As a Simons Foundation Pivot Fellow, Saenz Rodriguez will use his expertise in integrable probability and exact asymptotic analysis of models in non-equilibrium statistical and quantum mechanics to bridge the gap between theory and experiments for two-dimensional quantum magnetic materials. He will be mentored by Eric Corwin and Oksana Ostroverkhova from the physics departments at the University of Oregon and Oregon State University, respectively. Corwin and Ostroverkhova will guide Saenz Rodriguez in scientific practices for high-performing numerical computations and experimental physics. The team will develop state-of-the-art, large-scale simulations of layered two-dimensional quantum spin chains to understand, predict and control properties for quantum materials. The team will test and validate the simulations through precise experiments — building a bridge between mathematical theory and physics experiments. Saenz Rodriguez and mentors will lay the groundwork and fundamental research to understand quantum materials for next-generation technology that is computationally powerful and clean energy oriented.

Suckjoon Jun

Suckjoon Jun is a professor in the Department of Physics at the University of California, San Diego. His work aims to uncover fundamental principles in biology while integrating mechanistic insights with quantitative reasoning and modeling. Key contributions from his group include the development of the widely-used microfluidic mother machine and the discovery and mechanistic explanation of the adder principle in cell size control. Since the pandemic, his lab has expanded its focus “beyond E. coli,” reexamining classic systems in biological physics and cell biology through the lens of physiology.

As a Simons Foundation Pivot Fellow, Jun will collaborate with economist mentor Alberto Bisin of NYU to explore connections between physiology and economics, developing what he calls “econophysiology.” The primary goal is to map core concepts between physiological controls and economic principles, examining whether economic frameworks can yield new insights into physiology. Conversely, physiology may provide a controlled system for testing economic hypotheses that are otherwise difficult to validate. This cross-disciplinary effort aims to expand the methodological toolkit of both quantitative biologists and economists, leading to a deeper understanding of complex systems — whether biological or economic. Ultimately, the goal is to initiate a dialogue that enriches both fields with new perspectives and approaches.

Linus Labik

Linus Kweku Labik is a materials scientist and faculty member at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology whose work seeks to bridge cutting-edge science with sustainable solutions. His research focuses on lithium-ion battery recycling, eco-friendly mudbrick construction materials and the transformative potential of zeolites. His early research with the Zeolite Research Group of the Department of Physics was fueled by a commitment to tackling pressing local challenges. He mastered the synthesis of zeolites from abundant local materials like bauxite and kaolin, replacing chemical reagents with sustainable, cost-effective alternatives. These synthesized zeolites were applied to treat mine wastewater and in thermal energy storage systems by coupling a heat pump with a heat engine, enabling electricity generation. Labik’s expertise in analytical tools such as X-ray diffraction, microscopy and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy has allowed him to explore the microstructural properties of materials in detail, contributing to pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved with locally sourced resources. He champions practical applications of his research that can reshape communities, driving efforts to recycle electronic waste, develop durable, low-cost building materials and create a zero-waste future.

As a materials scientist with a strong background in physics, Labik has found a natural connection to astronomy, particularly radio astronomy — a growing field in Africa. During his Simons Foundation Pivot Fellowship, he will focus on the processes that govern grain coagulation in protoplanetary disks (PPDs). His goal for the fellowship year is to advance our understanding of how these grains interact, aggregate and evolve within PPDs, contributing to the broader knowledge of planet formation. By integrating my materials science expertise with cutting-edge astronomy research, he aims to foster innovative perspectives that can enhance our comprehension of the early stages of planetary systems.