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Singaporean Li Shengwu, who is currently an assistant professor of economics at Harvard University in the United States, has been awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship for 2023.

He is among 125 outstanding researchers in the U.S. to have been awarded.

Li, who is 38 year old this year, is one of the early-career researchers that has received the fellowship.

They each receive a two-year US$75,000 fellowship, which can be used flexibly to advance their research.

The Sloan Research Fellowship has been awarded annually since 1955, according to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s press release, to "honour extraordinary U.S. and Canadian researchers whose creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of leaders".

One of the most prestigious awards

The Sloan Research Fellowship is considered one of the most prestigious awards available to young researchers, in part because many past fellows have gone on to become towering figures in science.

The foundation said 56 fellows have received a Nobel Prize in their respective field, 17 have won the Fields Medal in mathematics, and 22 have won the John Bates Clark Medal in economics, including every winner since 2007.

The fellowship is open to scholars in seven scientific and technical fields, including chemistry, computer science and mathematics.

Other scientists and winners nominate candidates.

Winners are selected by independent panels of senior scholars.

Fellows from the 2023 cohort were drawn from large public university systems, Ivy League institutions as well as smaller liberal arts colleges -- a total of 54 institutions in the U.S. and Canada.

Notable past fellows include physicist Richard Feynman and mathematician John Nash.

Lee Hsien Yang "thrilled"

Li's father, Lee Hsien Yang, announced the news of his son's achievement via Facebook on Feb. 16.

Lee said: "I am thrilled that Shengwu continues to bring honour to Singapore."

He added that he believes Li was the first Singaporean inducted into the Harvard Society of Fellows in 2016, but is unsure if he is the first Singaporean to receive a Sloan Research Fellowship.

The post has garnered over 4,000 likes within three hours and hundreds of congratulatory comments.

Li is the grandson of the late Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first prime minister, and the eldest son of Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Suet Fern.

Top image via Facebook Lee Hsien Yang