Orit Peleg selected as a 2024 Schmidt Science Polymath

Orit Peleg, associate professor of computer science and Biofrontiers Institute faculty member at CU Boulder is one of six researchers recognized for their boundary-pushing work by the prestigiousSchmidt Sciences Polymath Program.

Each researcher will receive a total of up to $2.5 million over five years, joining a global community of 21 Polymaths from six countries.

The Polymath Program provides significant, flexible multi-year grants to enable awardees to pursue risky, novel theories that would otherwise be difficult to fund.

Peleg will focus on the evolutionary origins and diversification of communication across different animal species and how it manifests in group cognition of social animals.

"This award validates my belief that some of the most exciting discoveries lie at the intersections of diverse fields," Peleg said. "I am deeply grateful to my mentors and mentees for their inspiration and guidance along the way, and to Schmidt Futures for their generous support."

This year, the program received 117 applications from 65 nominating universities and partners that were evaluated by senior scientists, prior Polymath awardees and other experts.

The six recipients were selected based on both their past achievements-including a demonstrated capacity for high-impact research and high-variance thinking-and their ideas for boundary-breaking future projects.

In Peleg's lab, her mentees research how biological communication signals are generated and interpreted. While the channel may change - whether chemical, sound, or light - the living creatures of our world all encode high-dimensional biological features into low-dimensional communication patterns.

"Curiosity doesn't operate in a silo, and neither should science," said Wendy Schmidt, co-founder of Schmidt Sciences. "That's why we support several initiatives to enable researchers to pursue interdisciplinary hypotheses, in collaboration. The Schmidt Sciences Polymath Program allows bold, creative thinkers to pursue knowledge across boundaries and in doing so, to help all of us better understand the deep interconnections between people, planet and universe."

The Polymaths benefit from a network of winners that convenes annually to develop ideas for collaboration, funding and further study. The recipients represent the top 5 percent of applicants who are given funding to pursue research within three years after being awarded tenure.

"We are delighted to support the Polymaths to pursue what excites them. Through our funding, we hope to achieve breakthroughs and transform the way science is conducted," said Stu Feldman, chief scientist at Schmidt Sciences.

About Schmidt Sciences

Schmidt Sciences supports interdisciplinary researchers across scientific fields, geographies and career levels through Schmidt Science Fellows, Schmidt Polymaths and other initiatives. The Polymath program began in 2021 with awards to two scientists.

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