Two faculty members at the University of Washington have been awarded early-career fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The new Sloan Fellows, announced Feb. 12, are Kyle Armour and Jacqueline Padilla-Gamiño, both assistant professors in the College of the Environment.

Open to scholars in eight scientific and technical fields — chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences and physics — the fellowships honor those early-career researchers whose achievements mark them among the next generation of scientific leaders.

The 126 Sloan Fellows for 2020 were selected in coordination with the research community. Candidates are nominated by their peers, and fellows are selected by independent panels of senior scholars based on each candidate’s research accomplishments, creativity and potential to become a leader in their field. Each fellow will receive $75,000 for their research endeavors.

University of Washington

Armour is an assistant professor in both the School of Oceanography and the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. He is studying the role of the ocean in climate change using a combination of oceanographic and atmospheric observations, numerical climate model simulations and theory. Among his research topics are the role of oceanic and atmospheric circulations in moving heat around the climate system and how ocean currents interact with atmospheric processes to set the rate and magnitude of global warming. Armour is a lead author on the upcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report.

“My group works on a variety of topics in oceanography and atmospheric sciences, but as a collection, they focus on how the large-scale dynamics of the Earth system influence…climate variability and change, and how that spatial pattern, in turn, influences global warming,” Armour said. “A major focus is to provide an improved understanding of global and regional climate predictably on timescales of decades to centuries.”

Padilla-Gamiño is an assistant professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences. She is an environmental physiologist with a background in photobiology, reproduction, molecular ecology and oceanography. She studies the ecophysiology and reproductive biology of algae and marine invertebrates in a changing environment. By combining field and laboratory techniques, she examines the importance of transgenerational effects in acclimatization and local adaptation, and she investigates the synergistic effects of multiple stressors on coastal ecosystems. Padilla-Gamiño is interested in science communication and community engagement and is the author of the bilingual children’s book “Kupe and the Corals,” which has been translated into five languages.

“My research has uncovered fundamental insights on global change biology, parental effects, symbiosis, coral reproduction and the effects of ocean acidification and microplastics in seafood,” she said.

Congratulations, Kyle and Jacqueline!