Celebrating Our 2025 Discovery Prize Finalists On March 6
February 5, 2025
Dear Stony Brook Campus Community,
The pursuit of groundbreaking research drives Stony Brook University forward every single day. Our eminent researchers and scholars are constantly focused on the world’s most significant challenges, offering solutions to the critical problems we face today. The Stony Brook Foundation Discovery Prize champions our gifted emerging faculty who are essential in lifting Stony Brook to its next phase of research leadership and innovation. We invite you to join us on Thursday, March 6 in the Charles B. Wang Center Theatre at 2:30 pm as our remarkable faculty finalists for the 2025 Discovery Prize present their research, including:
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Paolo Celli, PhD, “Load-Bearing Enviro-Morphing Structures,” Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
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Jennifer Cano, PhD, “Theoretical Framework for the Discovery of Topological Moiré Materials,” Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Arts and Sciences
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Yifan Zhou, PhD, “Revolutionizing Power Grid Computing through Quantum-Driven Analytics,” Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Each of our finalists worked in close collaboration with the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science to prepare their presentations, which will be reviewed by a panel of notable judges. The 2025 winner of the $200,000 Discovery Prize will be announced at the conclusion of these presentations. These presentations represent life-changing research to advance scientific discovery. To register for this special event and to get more details on these distinguished scholars, please visit stonybrook.edu/discoveryprize.
Established in 2013 thanks to the generosity of the Stony Brook Foundation’s Board of Trustees, the Discovery Prize biennially honors our visionary STEM faculty who are just beginning their early career journeys. The Discovery Prize celebrates those who dare to push boundaries, take calculated risks, and pursue discovery-driven research that catalyzes breakthrough scientific achievement.
The development of the MRI technology is just one of the many breakthrough discoveries over the past decades that have earned Stony Brook its outstanding reputation as a prestigious research institution. To maintain this legacy, it is crucial to keep fundamental research at the core of Stony Brook’s mission by encouraging our brightest minds to pursue ambitious ideas that shape our world and create lasting positive change for future generations.
Sincerely,
Richard L. McCormick
Interim President