New York: Nine Indian-Americans are among 126 U.S. and Canadian scholars awarded with a prestigious American fellowship worth $50,000 to further their research in eight key scientific and technical fields.

"The Alfred P Sloan Foundation is pleased to announce the selection of 126 outstanding US and Canadian researchers as recipients of the 2015 Sloan Research Fellowships. Fellows receive $50,000 to further their research," a statement said.

The Indian Americans who were awarded the fellowships are Vivek Shende, Nandini Ananth, Hemamala Karunadasa, Prabal Dutta, Neal Mankad, Padmini Rangamani, Shyam Gollakota, Shantanu Jadhav and Suresh Naidu.

The fellowships were instituted annually since 1955. It honour early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements and potential identify them as rising stars, the next generation of scientific leaders, the foundation said.

"The beginning of a one's career is a crucial time in the life of a scientist. Building a lab, attracting funding in an increasingly competitive environment and securing tenure all depend on doing innovative, original high-quality work and having that work recognised," said Paul L Joskow, President of the Alfred P Sloan Foundation.

"For more than 50 years the Sloan Foundation has been proud to celebrate the achievements of extraordinary young scientists who are pushing the boundaries of scientific knowledge," Joskow said.

The fellowships were awarded in eight scientific and technical fields which includes chemistry, computer science, economics, mathematics, computational and evolutionary molecular biology, neuroscience, ocean sciences and physics.

In the past, Sloan Research Fellows have gone on to notable careers and include such intellectual luminaries as physicist Richard Feynman and game theorist John Nash.

Since the beginning of the program, 43 fellows have received a Nobel Prize in their respective field, 16 have won the Fields Medal in mathematics, 65 have received the National Medal of Science, and 14 have won the John Bates Clark Medal in economics, including every winner since 2007.

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