Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists – Blavatnik Family Foundation

Dust Might Have Snuffed Out the Dinosaurs

Posted on September 30, 2023 (November 28, 2023) by Christine Ongsueng

Known as the Chicxulub impact, it set off a global shock wave, earthquakes and megatsunamis that exterminated the nonavian dinosaurs and plunged Earth into a long and dark winter.A study published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience has uncovered a cause of this cold snap: dust. The study’s authors say that micrometer-size fine silicate dust lingered as long as 15 years in the atmosphere after the impact and contributed to the global cooling. Additionally, they say, all photosynthetic activity on Earth may have ceased completely within two weeks following the Chicxulub impact largely because of fine dust. Stephen Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh and a Blavatnik Awards Laureate, who was not involved in the research, said studies like this one aided understanding of the time period after the asteroid’s impact. […]

2023 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists Honorees Announced

Posted on August 9, 2023 (August 24, 2023) by Christine Ongsueng

The Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences today announced the three Laureates and six Finalists of the 2023 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists. The Awards honor outstanding postdoctoral scientists from academic research institutions across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut in three disciplinary categories: Chemistry, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and Life Sciences. The Blavatnik Regional Awards jury, consisting of distinguished scientists and engineers from across the New York Tri-State region, selected one Laureate in each of the three categories who will receive a $30,000 unrestricted prize and two Finalists in each category who will be awarded $10,000 each. The 2023 Blavatnik Regional Awards Laureates and Finalists will be honored during National Postdoctoral Appreciation Week, which recognizes the significant contributions that postdoctoral scholars make to U.S. research and discovery. The 2023 Ceremony of the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, will take place at the American Museum of Natural History in New York on September 19, 2023. […]

2023 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists Announced

Posted on July 26, 2023 by Christine Ongsueng

The Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences announced today the 2023 laureates of the  Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists. Each will receive $250,000, the largest unrestricted scientific award for America’s most innovative, faculty-ranked scientists and engineers who are under the age of 42. The winners and their distinguished research are William Anderegg, Ph.D., The University of Utah (Ecology & Evolutionary Biology)—Revealing how trees absorb and release carbon dioxide amidst a changing climate, Shannon Boettcher, Ph.D., University of Oregon (Inorganic & Solid-State Chemistry)—Discovering novel methods and materials to harness electrochemistry for sustainability, 2023 Laureate in Physical Sciences & Engineering: Svitlana Mayboroda, Ph.D., University of Minnesota (Applied Mathematics)—Developed elegant new mathematical theory to understand electronic waves. “I congratulate all the laureates and finalists whose outstanding research gives us hope for the future,” said Len Blavatnik, founder and chairman of Access Industries. He is head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation and a member of the President’s Council of the New York Academy of Sciences. […]

A prize of 100 thousand dollars: these are the researchers of the future of Israel

Posted on June 8, 2023 (June 22, 2023) by Christine Ongsueng

The 2023 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel awards ceremony was held last night (Wednesday) at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation in Tel Aviv, in the presence of President Yitzhak Herzog and his wife Michal. Three young researchers from universities in Israel each won a grant of 100 thousand dollars for their groundbreaking research in three fields — life sciences, chemistry, and physical sciences and engineering. […]

2023 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel Science Symposium

Posted on May 24, 2023 by Christine Ongsueng

The Blavatnik Family Foundation, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the New York Academy of Sciences invite the public to a series of lectures from the forefront of Israeli research at the 2023 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel Symposium on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, at the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University. The symposium will be in-person and in English. The three recipients of the 2023 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel will answer questions and more in a morning of free and exciting lectures in Tel Aviv, Israel. […]

Nominations for the 2024 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK is Open Until 24th May 2023

Posted on May 2, 2023 by Christine Ongsueng

The nomination period for the 2024 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK is open until 24th May 2023. Institution nominators should submit their nominations through blavatnikuk.smapply.io/. Please contact the Blavatnik Awards team (blavatnikawardsuk@nyas.org) with any questions about nominations. The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the United Kingdom celebrate the past accomplishments and future potential of the UK’s most innovative young faculty-rank (academic staff) scientists and engineers working in the three disciplinary categories of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and Chemistry. Every year, one nominee in each category will be named a Blavatnik Awards in the UK Laureate and awarded £100,000 in unrestricted funds, with two Blavatnik Awards in the UK Finalists in each category both receiving £30,000. […]

Israeli Scientists Awarded $100,000 For Groundbreaking Research

Posted on April 4, 2023 by Christine Ongsueng

Three young Israeli scientists have been awarded $100,000 each for their groundbreaking research. Since 2017, the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel has recognized the country’s most promising researchers in life sciences, physical sciences & engineering, and chemistry, and each year, one scientist in each category receives $100,000 to pursue their research. The prizes are awarded to scientists aged up to 42. The awards were established by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, which supports educational, scientific, cultural, and charitable institutions around the world. Over the past decade, it has contributed more than $1 billion to over 250 organizations. […]

Hebrew University Genetic Scientist Receives the Prestigious Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in Israel

Posted on April 3, 2023 (April 3, 2023) by Christine Ongsueng

Hebrew University of Jerusalem Prof. Shai Carmi, of the Braun School of Public Health Faculty of Medicine, received the 2023 Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists in the field of life sciences. The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the Blavatnik Family Foundation announced the award today. Prof. Carmi is considered one of the world’s leading researchers in genetic epidemiology and population genetics. His pioneering work combines models of genetic inheritance with algorithms to identify risks of future diseases using DNA testing. […]

PRESTIGIOUS BLAVATNIK AWARDS FOR YOUNG SCIENTISTS IN ISRAEL ANNOUNCES 2023 LAUREATES

Posted on April 3, 2023 (April 3, 2023) by Christine Ongsueng

The Blavatnik Family Foundation, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the New York Academy of Sciences, announced today the Laureates of the 2023 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in Israel. This year’s Laureates, who will each receive US$100,000, are Shai Carmi, PhD (Life Sciences) – The Hebrew University of Jerusalem – Recognized for fundamental contributions to the fields of population and medical genetics; Rina Rosenzweig, PhD (Chemistry) – Weizmann Institute of Science – Recognized for discovering the regulatory mechanism by which a particular class of proteins, “chaperone” proteins, drive the innate ability of our cells to prevent and reverse protein aggregation—a phenomena associated with many neurodegenerative conditions including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases; and Zvika Brakerski, PhD (Physical Sciences & Engineering) – Weizmann Institute of Science – Recognized for developing the first efficient encryption algorithm that allows cloud computers to perform computations on encrypted data without the need to first decrypt them. […]

Developing custom apparatus to determine battery electrolyte sweet spots

Posted on March 30, 2023 by Christine Ongsueng

There are only a few surface force balances in the world, and Susan Perkin’s group has one of them. ‘You can’t go and buy one,’ explains Perkin. Staff in the mechanical and electronic workshop in the University of Oxford’s chemistry department make all the components for the instrument Perkin works with. Perkin was recently named the chemistry laureate of the 2023 Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists in the UK. In particular, the award highlighted the experimental observations she has made using the surface force balance. […]