Physicist Ying Ran is among 126 scientists nationwide who were awarded Sloan Research Fellowships in 2012. The fellowship, given by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, provides a two-year, $50,0000 grant to early-career scientists "who show the most outstanding promise of making fundamental contributions to new science." Boston College led all Massachusetts colleges and universities in Sloan Research Fellowships this year with four recipients.

Ari Daniel Shapiro '01 developed this audio slideshow. A biology major at Boston College with a Ph.D. in biological oceanography from MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Shapiro is an independent producer of radio and multimedia pieces on scientific subjects.