35 Innovators Under 35 2015
There’s more than one way to read these stories. Sure, the subjects are inspiring and creative people. But these are not merely personality profiles. They also illustrate the most important emerging technologies of the moment. In biomedicine, for example, we feature several people who are figuring out in detail how the brain works and how we might stave off mental disorders. Others are unearthing knowledge about cancer that might open new avenues for treatment. Meanwhile, as robotics and artificial intelligence make astonishing progress, innovators in those fields are showcased here. So are people who are cleverly taking advantage of the falling cost of sensors and bandwidth.
The selection process for this package begins with hundreds of nominations from the public, MIT Technology Review editors, and our international partners who publish Innovators Under 35 lists in their regions. Our editors pare the list to about 80 people, who submit descriptions of their work and letters of reference. Then outside judges rate the finalists on the originality and impact of their work; that feedback helps the editors choose this group.
Judges
Zhenan Bao, Professor of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University; David Berry, General Partner, Flagship Ventures; Edward Boyden, Co-director, MIT Center for Neurobiological Engineering; Yet-Ming Chiang, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT; James Collins, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University; John Dabiri, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford; Tanuja Ganu, Cofounder, DataGlen; Javier García-Martínez, Director of Molecular Nanotechnology Laboratory, University of Alicante, Spain; Julia Greer, Professor of Materials Science and Mechanics, Caltech; Christine Hendon, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University; Eric Horvitz, Managing Director, Microsoft Research; Rana el Kaliouby, Chief Strategy & Science Officer, Affectiva; Hao Li, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, University of Southern California; Cherry Murray, Professor of Physics and Technology and Public Policy, Harvard University; Carmichael Roberts, Entrepreneur and General Partner, North Bridge Venture Partners; John Rogers, Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science Engineering, University of Illinois; Umar Saif, Vice Chancellor, Information Technology University Lahore, Pakistan; Julie Shah, Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT; Rachel Sheinbein, Managing Director, Makeda Capital; Leila Takayama, Senior Researcher, Google X; Kay Tye, Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, MIT; Sophie Vandebroek, CTO, Xerox; Jennifer West, Professor of Engineering, Duke University; Jackie Ying, Executive Director, Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, Singapore; Ben Zhao, Professor of Computer Science, UC Santa Barbara; Xiaolin Zheng, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford