Pedro Lopes, Técnico alumnus (Computer Science and Engineering) and Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago is one of the 118 winners of the 2022 Sloan Research Fellowships, which aim to recognise the most promising scientific researchers working today. Their achievements and potential place them among the next generation of scientific leaders. Winners receive $75,000, which may be spent over a two-year term on any expense supportive of their research.
“Today’s Sloan Research Fellows represent the scientific leaders of tomorrow,” says Adam F. Falk, president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “”As formidable young scholars, they are already shaping the research agenda within their respective fields—and their trailblazing won’t end here. “As formidable young academics, they are already shaping the research agenda within their respective fields – and their journey will not end here”, he stresses.
The 2022 fellows are drawn from a diverse range of 51 institutions across the U.S. and Canada. The Técnico alumnus is among the 20 young academics selected in the Computer Science scientific and technical field.
Pedro Lopes leads the Human Computer Integration Lab, a research group focused on integrating computer interfaces with the human body. According to the University of Chicago website “Lopes designs, builds and studies interactive devices that “borrow” parts of the user’s body to influence their motion and perception. These wearable technologies use electrical muscle stimulation to actuate movement or simulate touch feedback, or engage with the user’s sense of smell, temperature and other stimuli to create more realistic virtual environments”.
The Técnico alumnus career has been marked by success. Last year, he won the NSF Career award. His work has been published at top-tier conferences (ACM CHI & UIST) and demonstrated at venues such as SIGGRAPH and IEEE Haptics. As part of his research, Pedro Lopes has exhibited at Ars Electronica 2017, Science Gallery Dublin and World Economic Forum in San Francisco.
Before joining the University of Chicago (2019), Pedro Lopes was a PhD student at the Hasso Plattner Institute, Germany. He received the 2018 University of Potsdam Best Doctoral Dissertation Award for his doctoral thesis.
Awarded annually since 1955, the fellowships honour extraordinary researchers whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders.
Open to scholars in seven scientific and technical fields—chemistry, computer science, Earth system science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, and physics—the Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded in close coordination with the scientific community. Candidates must be nominated by their fellow scientists and winners are selected by independent panels of senior scholars on the basis of a candidate’s research accomplishments, creativity, and potential to become a leader in their field. More than 1000 researchers are nominated each year.
Founded in 1934, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a non-profit institution that supports high quality scientific research.
