This year is the 10th anniversary of L’Oreal USA’s Women In Science Award.

Five women have been awarded fellowships this year for their innovative reseaerch, and will be recognized at a ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City on October 24, 2013. Recipients each receive up to $60,000 towards their postdoctoral research.

The 2013 Fellows were selected from a competitive pool of over 350 candidates by an interdisciplinary review panel. The program’s partner, AAAS, managed the peer-review process

This year’s winners are:

Arpita Bose, a microbiologist from Harvard University, who studies unusual microbes that respire iron while using light to grow in nature. Her work suggests that these organisms harbor pathways to potentially generate biologically derived fuels.

Luisa Whittaker-Brooks, who studies chemical and biological engineering at Princeton University, and has been able to revolutionize the materials science field by synthesizing nanoscaled materials for use in electronics, window coatings, sensing devices, and photovoltaics.

Anisa Salim Ismail, who studies Molecular Biology at Princeton University, who will use the award to establish mouse models to study the possibility that commensals (the friendly bacteria in the intestines) and mammalian cells “talk” to each other through a process called quorum sensing – to establish the beneficial relationships shared in the intestine.

Robin Evans Stanley, who studies biochemistry at National Institutes of Health, and has a research goal of understanding the regulation of autophagy. Autophagy is a cellular pathway involved in the recycling of cytosolic components such as proteins and organelles. Dysfunction of this pathway has been linked to many human diseases including cancer and neurodegeneration.

Mary Caswell Stoddard, an Evolutionary Biologist and Ornithologist at Harvard University, who will pursue innovative research on the evolution and engineering of avian eggs – with the goal of contributing to new tools and advanced materials inspired by eggs.