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Maya Fishbach and Daniel Litt from the Faculty of Arts & Science have been awarded prestigious from the .

The fellowships honour exceptional early-career Canadian and U.S. researchers whose creativity, innovation and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of scientific leaders.

Fishbach, an assistant professor with the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, is carrying out gravitational wave research that is helping revolutionize our understanding of how and where black holes are made and how big the universe is.

Her foundational work on bridging the fields of gravitational physics and astrophysics is helping shape the field of multi-messenger astronomy — a new realm of research that draws on observations of both gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation.

“It’s a huge honour to have my research recognized by the Sloan Foundation — especially because so many of my role models are past Sloan fellows, including several U of T physicists and astronomers,” says Fishbach. “I am super grateful for the support of all of my mentors, especially Professor Juna Kollmeier for always believing in me and Dick Bond for nominating me for this fellowship. I am also thankful to all the wonderful students, post-docs and colleagues around the world without whom my research wouldn’t be anywhere near as productive or fun.”

Litt is an assistant professor with the department of mathematics whose current research focuses on using algebraic-geometric and arithmetic tools to answer classical questions in geometry, topology, number theory and dynamics.

He is emerging as a world leader in using modern algebraic geometry to prove classical results in algebraic geometry.

“I'm honoured to receive the Sloan Research Fellowship, and I deeply appreciate the Sloan Foundation's recognition of my work on the arithmetic and topology of algebraic varieties,” says Litt. “I am excited to continue working towards a deeper understanding of the interrelationships between number theory, low-dimensional topology and algebraic geometry.

“My hope is that this continued work will help us discern answers to some of the fundamental questions in mathematics that lie in the interplay between these areas.”