Allen Distinguished Investigators

The Allen Distinguished Investigator (ADI) Program, launched in 2010, recognizes scientific investigators pursuing new, pioneering research in academic settings. The primary goals of the program are to increase human knowledge and understanding in selected topic areas and to have a lasting impact on the direction of research by funding projects that may serve as catalysts upon which future research is founded.

Guided by its Science Working Committee, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation awards promising projects that are unlikely to receive funding from traditional sources – those that incorporate creative, ambitious, interdisciplinary and forward-thinking approaches, or include novel methodological, theoretical, and technological elements. Awards are made over a three-year period to allow investigators sufficient time to explore big questions in depth.

One mechanism the program uses to promote lasting impact is supporting young faculty members, enabling scientists who are relatively new in their academic careers to take risks with new ideas. A significant award can boost their careers and help to seed ideas that may spawn a lifetime body of research.

The first round of Allen Distinguished Investigator awards went to seven scientists pursuing creative, cutting-edge work in areas such as data management and technology for life sciences.

		Progress Toward Understanding Visual-Motor Transformation in the Brain Michael Dickinson, University of Washington
		How the Brain Increases in Fitness Christof Koch, California Institute of Technology and Allen Institute for Brain Science; Chris Adami, Michigan State University; Giulio Tononi, University of Wisconsin at Madison
		Finding the Neural Basis for Aggressive Behavior David J. Anderson, Ph.D., California Institute of Technology
		Understanding Neural Activity in the Brain Ed Boyden, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
		Sequencing the Connectome: Determining the Brain's Wiring Diagram Anthony Zador, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (Cold Spring Harbor, New York)
		Using Plant Hormones to Program Multicelled Systems Jennifer Nemhauser and Eric Klavins, University of Washington
		Patterns of Neural Dynamics Mark Schnitzer, Stanford University (Palo Alto, California)