41 finalists named for the 2020 Hertz fellowships

The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation today announced 41 finalists for the 2020 Hertz Fellowship in applied science, mathematics, and engineering. Selected from more than 800 applicants across 24 universities, the finalists advance to a culminating round of interviews for one of the most competitive and coveted fellowships in the nation. The 2020 class of Hertz Fellows will be announced in May.

Since 1963, the Hertz Foundation has granted fellowships empowering the nation’s most promising young minds in science and technology. Hertz Fellows receive five years of funding valued up to $250,000, with the freedom to pursue innovative projects wherever they may lead. In addition to financial support, the foundation provides ongoing mentoring, symposia, and retreats to build a network of peers, providing fellows a forum to share ideas and explore opportunities throughout their careers.

“Hertz Fellowships fuel outstanding science and technology talent at a critical time in their early career development,” said Robbee Baker Kosak, Hertz Foundation President. “We are honored and excited about this year’s uniquely gifted pool of finalists.”

The Hertz Foundation is dedicated to advancing groundbreaking applied science with real-world benefits. In identifying a fellow, the selection committee seeks out the most extraordinary candidates who are best positioned to become leaders in their fields and address the most pressing challenges facing society, ranging from developing better therapies for cancer to transforming modern computing.

Over the foundation’s 57-year history of awarding fellowships, its 1,226 Hertz Fellows have established a remarkable track record of accomplishments. Their ranks include two Nobel laureates; eight recipients of the Breakthrough Prize; and winners of the Turing Award, the Fields Medal, the National Medal of Technology, and the National Medal of Science. In addition, 43 are members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and 29 are fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Hertz Fellows hold over 3,000 patents, have founded more than 200 companies, and have created hundreds of thousands of science and technology jobs.

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About the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation

The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation is a not-for-profit organization changing the world around us by granting freedom of American scientific research and innovation through fellowship and financial support. Launched in 1963, the Hertz Fellowship is the most exclusive fellowship program in the world. Our 1,200+ Hertz Fellows are the leaders, shapers, and disruptors of American science, engineering, and mathematics. We welcome philanthropic partners to join in support of Hertz Fellowships. For more information, visit http://www.hertzfoundation.org.

2020 Finalists

Finalists are listed with their field of study and most recent university affiliation.

Alexander Alabugin

Chemistry

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Anastasios Angelopoulos

Computer Science and Engineering

University of California, Berkeley

Siranush Babakhanova

Bioengineering and Computational Biology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Shankar Balasubramanian

Physics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Adam Berger

Bioengineering

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Harvard University

Daine Danielson

Physics

University of Chicago

Alyssa Dayan

Computer Science

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Spencer Doyle

Physics

Harvard University

Logan Engstrom

Computer Science

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Ethan Epperly

Applied Mathematics

University of California, Santa Barbara

Claire Evensen

Quantitative Biology

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Wanying Fu

Astrophysics

Pomona College

Marisa Gaetz

Mathematics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jakob Grzesik

Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics

Rice University

Daniel Gurevich

Applied and Computational Mathematics

Georgia Institute of Technology

Abraham Herzog-Arbeitman

Chemistry

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nathanael Kazmierczak

Chemistry

Calvin University

Abijith Krishnan

Physics

Harvard College

Rohith Kuditipudi

Computer Science and Engineering

Duke University

Hannah Lawrence

Applied Mathematics and Statistics

Yale University

Owen Leddy

Biological Engineering

University of Chicago

Calvin Leung

Physics

Harvey Mudd College

Srinivas Mandyam

Physics

University of Pennsylvania

Isaac Metcalf

Materials Science

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Albert Musaelian

Applied Mathematics

University of Oklahoma

Nolan Peard

Physics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Maya Sankar

Applied Mathematics and Statistics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Jillian Silbert

Quantitative Biology and Bioengineering

Princeton University

Jean Somalwar

Astronomy

Princeton University

Jasmine Stone

Neuroscience

Yale University

Douglas Stryker

Mathematics

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Vikram Sundar

Quantitative Biology and Bioengineering

University of Cambridge

Anna Thomas

Computer Science

University of Cambridge

Constantine Tzouanas

Biological Engineering

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Nicolas Valdes Meller

Physics

Universidad de Chile

Julian Van Der Made

Earth and Environmental Engineering

Columbia University

Maya Varma

Computer Science

Stanford University

Tanay Wakhare

Computer Science

University of Maryland, College Park

Sophie Walton

Quantitative Biology and Bioengineering

California Institute of Technology

Maxwell Wang

Machine Learning and Neuroscience

University of Pittsburgh

Carnegie Mellon University

Katherine Xiang

Physics

Johns Hopkins University