IAS Scholars Past, Present, and Future Receive 2025 NASA Fellowships

Three IAS scholars from the School of Natural Sciences have received 2025 Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowships from NASA: Itai Linial, Member (2022–23); Shi-Fan Chen, Member (2022–25); and Nadine Soliman, Member (2025–30).

Linial and Chen were named as Einstein Fellows, who broadly address the question “How does the universe work?” As an Einstein Fellow, Linial will study the broad landscape of high-energy transients occurring in centers of galaxies near supermassive black holes. His work, which he will conduct at New York University, will leverage the expected wave of discoveries from upcoming astrophysical surveys, including the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

Chen, who will undertake his Einstein Fellowship at Columbia University, is a cosmologist. His research involves building state-of-the-art theoretical models and analyzing large cosmological datasets to make precision measurements of fundamental physics. During his fellowship, he hopes to develop novel analytical methods from first principles to study physics ranging from the mass of neutrinos to the nature of dark energy.

Meanwhile, Soliman, who will begin her IAS Membership next academic year, was appointed as a Hubble Fellow. The work of Hubble Fellows is characterized by the question “How did we get here?” More specifically, Soliman's research focuses on bridging microscopic and macroscopic astrophysical processes by developing numerical simulations and analytical models to study the formation of planets, stars, and galaxies. She investigates how small-scale microphysical processes such as dust dynamics, thermochemistry, and plasma physics shape large-scale observable phenomena, aiming to uncover the fundamental mechanisms that drive star and planet formation at their most elusive stages.

Shawn Domagal-Goldman, Acting Director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, described the 2025 class of NASA Fellows as “outstanding” researchers: “This class of competitively-selected fellows will inspire future generations through the products of their research, and by sharing the results of that work with the public. Their efforts will help NASA continue its worldwide leadership in space-based astrophysics research.”