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Occidental Alumna Awarded L'Oreal UNESCO Science Fellowship

She is one of four women awarded a 2009 United Kingdom and Ireland For Women in Science Fellowship by the French cosmetics company L’Oréal and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The Women in Science fellowships, given to outstanding women scientists in the early stages of their careers, can be used at any UK or Irish university/research institute to support postdoctoral research in the life or physical sciences. The $21,500 USD (£15,000) fellowship allows Alireza, who works in UCL’s physics and astronomy department, to start a new high-pressure laboratory at the school and to continue her collaborative research project with the University of Cambridge.

“The project focuses on studying the electronic interactions of materials under extreme conditions of pressure, low temperature and high magnetic fields in order to further our understanding of the fundamental properties of matter,” she said in a written statement.

Alireza began her science career later in life. She entered Occidental College at the age of 31, graduating with an A.B. in physics, then went on to UCLA, where she received an M.S. in physics. Alireza subsequently graduated in 2003 with a Ph.D. at Cambridge University, remaining there for five years to continue her research.

The L’Oréal UK and Ireland Fellowships For Women in Science are run in partnership with the UK and the Irish National Commissions for UNESCO, the Royal Institution of Great Britain and the UK Resource Center for Women in Science, Technology, and Engineering. The fellowships are part of L’Oréal and UNESCO’s For Women In Science Program. Since the program was founded in 1998, more than 700 women in 70 countries have been recognized for their research and received funding to further their careers.