Azahara Oliva, assistant professor of neurobiology and behavior in the College of Arts and Sciences, has been named a Packard Fellow for Science and Engineering.
The fellowship from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation includes $875,000 in unrestricted funds to be used for research over five years. Oliva is among a cohort of 20 early-career scientists and engineers this year receiving fellowships.
"Through her brilliant work on the neurobiology of the brain, Azahara Oliva is gaining insight into things like sleep and memory – fundamental and essential life processes,” said Peter John Loewen, the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “The Packard Fellowship confirms her leadership in this field and provides resources for further investigation. I want to congratulate Azahara on this accomplishment and thank the Packard Foundation for supporting this important research.”
“Science is a powerful tool for solving the world’s toughest challenges,” said Nancy Lindborg, President and CEO of the Packard Foundation, in the announcement. “These visionary Packard Fellows are pushing the boundaries of knowledge, and their bold ideas will become tomorrow’s real-world solutions.”
Oliva’s research focuses on understanding how brain states support higher-order cognition, and how the spatio-temporal coordination of neuronal function across different brain states helps animals successfully navigate complex environments.
To that end, her laboratory uses technology to record hundreds of neurons across neuronal circuits and develop new technology to record the brain from animals living in their natural environment.
“I’m honored to be part of the 2025 multidisciplinary class of Packard Fellows and look forward to interacting with other scholars to learn about their bold ideas,” Oliva said.
The unrestricted fellowship funds enable fellows to “test novel ideas and lead research that drives real-world impact,” said the Packard Foundation in a statement.
Packard Fellows have gone on to earn some of the most esteemed recognitions, including Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Physics. Fellows have been awarded Fields Medals, Alan T. Waterman Awards, Breakthrough Prizes, Kavli Prizes, and elections to the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.
Oliva was recently accepted as one of only 50 fellows to participate in the Scialog for the Molecular Basis of Cognition and was recognized this year with the NIMH Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientists (BRAINS).
Recent Packard Fellows from Cornell include Anna Ho, assistant professor of astronomy (A&S), last year; Noah Stephens-Davidowitz, assistant professor of computer science in the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science (2023); and Kirstin Petersen, associate professor or electrical and computer engineering and Aref and Manon Lahham Faculty Fellow in the College of Engineering, (2019).
Linda B. Glaser is news and media relations manager for the College of Arts and Sciences.
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