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.

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 www.hertzfoundation.org.

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 Computer Science
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