BME Prof. Lewis Named Searle Scholar for 2020
BME Assistant Professor Laura Lewis was named one of only 15 Searle Scholars for 2020, for her work on neuromodulation of neural dynamics and perception across sleep and wakefulness. Her work examines how the brain shift its functional properties to maintain sleep, wake, attentional, and affective states, and how this knowledge can lead to treatments for psychiatric disorders.
The Searle Scholars Program supports high risk, high reward research across a broad range of scientific disciplines. After a highly competitive selection process, each scientist receives an award of $300,000 in flexible funding to support his, her, or their work over the next three years.
The Searle Scholars Program makes grants to selected universities and research centers to support the independent research of exceptional young faculty in the biomedical sciences and chemistry who have recently been appointed as assistant professors on a tenure-track appointment. The program’s Scientific Director appoints an Advisory Board of eminent scientists who choose the Scholars based on rigorous standards aimed at finding the most creative talent interested in pursuing an academic research career. This year, 199 applications were considered from nominations by 139 universities and research institutions.
Since 1981, 632 scientists have been named Searle Scholars. Including this year, the program has awarded more than $143 million. Eighty-five Searle Scholars have been inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. Nineteen Scholars have been recognized with a MacArthur Fellowship, known as the “genius grant,” and a Searle Scholar has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.
Prof. Lewis joined BU BME in 2019.