CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 30, 2022 — MIT Technology Review has announced an inspiring new class of Innovators Under 35, an annual list recognizing the brightest young minds working in technology today. The problems these 35 innovators are working on now, and the plans they have for how to solve them, show us where technology is headed next.

By developing a VR therapy to fight vision loss in children, compiling African-language data sets for machine learning, and producing industrial chemicals with a lower carbon footprint, this year’s innovators have already made important discoveries and advances. They are entrepreneurs, humanitarians, inventors, and researchers tackling tough challenges in five areas: climate change, AI and robots, materials science, computing, and biotech.

“This year’s class of innovators is incredibly strong and diverse. Everyone on this list is doing work that’s making a real impact,” says Amy Nordrum, editorial director for special projects and operations. “These are the people to watch if you want to see what happens at the leading edge of technology in the years ahead.”

This year’s innovators were chosen from more than 600 nominees by the editors of MIT Technology Review and a panel of 31 expert judges. In a new addition this year, five judges and former honorees—one for each category—also contributed essays outlining what they see as the critical next steps in their respective fields.

“Before anyone has been nominated in the first place they’ve usually done something pretty spectacular—which makes whittling that list down to a smaller group of semi-finalists and then to the ultimate list of 35 an incredibly difficult task,” says Tim Maher, managing editor of MIT Technology Review. “It’s a good problem to have, and it means the final 35 are among the most interesting and promising young people working in technology all over the world.”

2022 Innovators Under 35

AI and Robots:

• • Laura Blumenschein, Purdue University
  • Gauri Joshi, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Yoonho Kim, MIT
  • Joelle Mbatchou, Regeneron Genetics Center
  • Ishan Misra, Meta AI
  • Kathleen Siminyu, Mozilla Foundation
  • Kathryn Tunyasuvunakool, DeepMind
  • Alain Vaucher, IBM Research Europe
  • Sharon Zhou, Stanford University

Biotech:

• • Alex Abramson, Georgia Tech
  • Samagya Banskota, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
  • Xin Jin, Scripps Research
  • Mijin Kim, Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research
  • Benjamin Oakes, Scribe Therapeutics
  • Scott Xiao, Luminopia

Climate Change:

• • Kaichen Dong, University of California, Berkeley
  • Chengcheng Fang, Michigan State University
  • Sean Hunt, Solugen
  • Shannon Nangle, Circe
  • Magi Richani, Nobell Foods
  • Richard Wang, Cuberg
  • Rui Wang, Westlake University

Computing:

• • Hongjie Liu, Reexen Technology
  • Stefanie Mueller, MIT
  • Uzoma Orchingwa, Ameelio
  • Sara Wahedi, Ehtesab
  • Xu Zhang, Carnegie Mellon University
  • Setor Zilevu, Meta and Virginia Tech
  • Maayan Ziv, AccessNow

Materials Science:

• • Beth Esponnette, Unspun
  • Jia Liu, Harvard University
  • Naoji Matsuhisa, University of Tokyo
  • Carlos Portela, MIT
  • Steve Xu, Northwestern University
  • Hyunwoo Yuk, SanaHeal

Learn more about this year’s honorees in the July/August issue of MIT Technology Review and online here. The honorees will also be celebrated at the upcoming EmTech MIT conference, MIT Technology Review’s flagship event on emerging technology and global trends. EmTech MIT will be hosted as a hybrid event for both live and online audiences November 1-3, 2022.

About MIT Technology Review

Founded at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1899, MIT Technology Review is a world-renowned, independent media company whose insight, analysis, and interviews explain the newest technologies and their commercial, social, and political impacts. MIT Technology Review derives its authority from its relationship to the world’s foremost technology institution and from its editors’ deep technical knowledge, capacity to see technologies in their broadest context, and unequaled access to leading innovators and researchers. MIT Technology Review’s in-depth reporting reveals what’s going on now to prepare you for what’s coming next.

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Source: MIT Technology Review