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News Release

Last modified: Wednesday, March 3, 2010

IU Bloomington geneticist is a 2010 Sloan Foundation fellow

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 3, 2010

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University Bloomington geneticist Matthew Hahn has been elected a 2010 fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

The fellowship is designated for young faculty scientists who demonstrate the potential to do great things in their fields. It comes with a $50,000 award, disbursed over two years. This year's 118 American and Canadian fellows represent fields as diverse as mathematics, molecular biology, neuroscience and economics.

"The Sloan Research Fellowships support the work of exceptional young researchers early in their academic careers, and often at pivotal stages in their work," says Paul L. Joskow, president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Hahn uses powerful information technologies to extract meaning from the massive data sets churned out by today's biologists. By developing computational and statistical tools to analyze whole genomes, Hahn and the members of his lab are learning new things about the evolution of gene regulation and gene families, human genomic history, and the evolution of phenotypically important genes. Hahn earned his Ph.D. from Duke University in 2003 and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Davis, for two years. Hahn has been an assistant professor of biology and informatics at IU Bloomington since 2005.

"Matt is one of those rare scientists that can operate at the cutting edge of two disciplines, biology and informatics," said Biology Department chair Roger Innes. "This combined skill set allows Matt to answer previously intractable questions regarding how our own genomes came to be. Biology is immensely proud of Matt's accomplishments."

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic, not-for-profit grant making institution based in New York City. Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then-president and chief executive officer of the General Motors Corp., the foundation makes grants in support of original research and education in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and economic performance.

To speak with Hahn, please contact David Bricker at 812-856-9035 or brickerd@indiana.edu.

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