2024 Philanthropy Report: Investing in the Extraordinary

Peter Strauss Award

Since 2011, the Peter Strauss Award has recognized our most enterprising early career Hertz Fellows.

The Peter Strauss Award recognizes early-career fellows who have made significant achievements in an entrepreneurial endeavor, including patents, licensing agreements, start-up companies, and inventions receiving national recognition. Awardees receive a $5,000 honorarium.

The award honors Peter Strauss, a former member of our board of directors and financial advisor to the foundation for many decades. It was established by Strauss’s long-time associate Harold Newman, an honorary Hertz Fellow, former member of our board of directors, and a generous supporter of and donor to the foundation.

How to Nominate

Nominations must be submitted to the Hertz Foundation by January 29 each year. In your nomination package, include a clear description of the entrepreneurial accomplishments of the nominee, along with three testimonials by science and technology leaders who can attest to the importance of the nominee's work.

Please contact us to submit a nomination or learn more about the award.

Past Winners

2017
Ian McKay
Ian Mckay was recognized for his outstanding work pushing the limits of battery power. McKay is the lead inventor of a revolutionary aluminum-based battery that offers 10 times the energy of lithium-ion batteries in a safe, compact design. The battery is ideal for use in unmanned underwater vehicles, ocean science research, and the oil and gas industry. McKay’s company, Open Water Power Inc, co-founded with Tom Milnes, was acquired by L3 Technologies and renamed L3 Open Water Power.
2016
Max Mankin
Tony Pan
Max Mankin and Tony Pan were recognized for their tremendous work to revolutionize electric power generation and their effort to solve an issue that impacts people around the world: energy consumption. With the Seattle based start-up Modern Electron, they are working to generate inexpensive, modular, and reliable electricity for use worldwide.
2014
John Frank
John Frank was recognized for co-founding Diffeo, a technology start-up that created a new type of human language technology that applies text analytics to working notes, and for MetaCarta, a company that provides geographic information extraction and search engine products. MetaCarta was acquired by Nokia in 2010.
2012
John Stockton
John Stockton was recognized for founding two companies: Entanglement Technologies, which designs ultra-sensitive vapor detection with a variety of customers, including the U.S. Department of Defense, and Quantifind, which provides algorithmic software-based analytical services to consumer products manufacturers, scientific publishers, movie studios, and game makers.
2011
Chris Loose
Christopher Loose was recognized for founding Semprus BioSciences (formerly SteriCoat) to develop medical and industrial products with surface modifications to reduce infection, clotting, and fouling.