Innovators Under 352003
Since 1999, the editors of Technology Review have honored the young innovators whose inventions and research we find most exciting; today that collection is the TR35, a list of technologists and scientists, all under the age of 35. Their work--spanning medicine, computing, communications, electronics, nanotechnology, and more--is changing our world.
2003 Innovator of the Year: Alexis Borisy
2003 Humanitarian of the Year: Paul Meyer
Biomedicine
Guillermo Ameer
Synthesized "biorubbers" that could replace damaged heart and lung tissue and rebuild blood vessels.
Helene Andersson
Produces portable, inexpensive, microprocessor-size labs for research and industry.
Sangeeta Bhatia
Uses microchip-manufacturing tools to build artificial livers.
Alexis Borisy
Believes that combining different drugs could yield better ways to fight disease.
Eugene Chan
Aims to speed genome sequencing with a machine that reads DNA letter by letter.
Bassil Dahiyat
Designs proteins from scratch to create new medicine.
Benjamin G. Davis
Manipulates biological sugars for more precise drug delivery.
Christophe Echeverri
Develops fast, automated processes for figuring out genes functions.
Michael E. Gertner
Set out to improve the tiny devices that keep once blocked arteries open.
Jay Groves
Patented a lab-on-a-chip to investigate call proteins that cause diseases.
Justin Hanes
Creates systems for delivering drugs to where theyre needed in the body.
Andre Koltermann
Speeds protein evolution to improve detergents, medicines, and foods.
Erin Lavik
Helped paralyzed rats walk again and aims to do the same for people.
Xiangjun Liu
Maps gene variations that could warn of future disease.
Anthony Lowman
Packs insulin into gel pills that could replace injections for diabetes patients.
Gavin Macbeath
Unravels complex biological systems in his search for new drugs.
Nimmi Ramanujam
Uses light to help make diagnosing breast cancer and cervical cancer faster, more accurate and less invasive.
Shuvo Roy
Builds tiny machines that can warn of impending heart attack and monitor healing after surgery.
Ram Samudrala
Wrote algorithms that can predict the functions of proteins from the sequence of a genome.
Christophe Schilling
Transforms microbes into fine-tuned manufacturing machines.
Mark Schnitzer
Sheds light on the functioning of individual brain cells.
Mijail Serruya
Connects brains directly to computers int he hope of helping paralyzed people communicate and control robotic aids.
Micah Siegel
Transforms research from universities and national labs into successful startups.
Giovanni Traverso
Came up with a noninvasive alternative to colonoscopy.
Rita Vanbever
Wants to make treating diabetes as easy as breathing.
Ron Weiss
Programs living cells to sense toxins ot create replacement tissues.
Jennifer West
Synthesizes blood vessels that could reduce the trauma of heart surgery.
Daphne Zohar
Spots promising biotech work and helps build new companies to commercialize it.
Computing
John Apostolopoulos
Develops ways to improve the security of streaming video on the Net.
Brian Behlendorf
Sparked the widespread development of Web servers, mainstreaming the nascent Web.
Jud Bowman
Wrote software that is accelerating the expansion of wireless networking.
Lorrie Cranor
Leads the global effort to improve privacy practices and tools on the Web.
Jason Hill
Wrote software that allows hundreds of minute wireless sensors to communicate better.
Meg Hourihan
Sparked the rise of the popular Web-based journals known as blogs.
Paul Q. Judge
Wrote software that stops spam and viruses before they enter a network.
Rasmus Lerdorf
Invented a server language that brought live data to the Web.
Lih Y. Lin
Built micromirror switches for faster, all-optical telecommunications networks.
Paul Meyer
Brings database and Web-like services to remote areas through touch-tone phones.
Sanjay Parekh
Develops software that lets companies tailor services to their customers locations.
Vipul Ved Prakash
Developed free and commercial software filters that fight spam.
Rueben Singh
Provides support services and startup money for entrepreneurs.
Martin Wattenberg
Simplifies peoples electronic lives with graphical data management.
Andrew Wheeler
Builds wireless sensor networks that improve industrial efficiency.
Evan Williams
Fueled the expansion of blogs across the Web.
Jennifer Yates
Wrote software widely adopted by the telecom industry that speeds up optical networks.
Business
Geoffrey Barrows
Gives unmanned reconnaissance planes insect vision.
Serafim Batzoglou
Devises powerful tools for assembling and analyzing genomes.
Cynthia Breazeal
Constructs robots whose expressive faces convey humanlike emotions.
Ian Clarke
Pioneered software that delivers Web files quickly, anonymously.
Andre DeHon
Designs architectures needed to build practical molecular computers.
Daniel Gottesman
Works to improve quantum computers so they can speed drug design and perform other massive computing tasks.
Kathryn Guarini
Fabricates three-dimensional integrated circuits that could vastly increase computer power.
Vic Gundotra
Sparked Microsofts change to .Net.
Andrew Heafitz
Invented inexpensive rocket-based surveillance systems.
Steven Hofmeyr
Devised software that roots out security threats to a networks operating system.
Mike Horton
Engineers tiny sensors that can be spread like crumbs around a battlefield or factory.
Ayanna Howard
Writes programs that more intelligently guide actions of robots.
Kevin Lee
Integrates photonics and electronics on chips to speed telecommunications.
Desmond Lim
Develops high-volume manufacturing lines for making optical chips into commodities.
Michael OConnor
Designed an automated tractor steering system that is saving farmers bushels of money.
Joe Pompei
Delivers "spotlights" of sound for use in concerts, museums, and automobiles.
Jovan Popovic
Makes simpler, more powerful animation tools for novices and professionals.
Thomas Reardon
Tailors Internet application to cell phones.
Torsten Reil
Employs simulations of human movement to create realistically animated characters.
Heike Riel
Built large, bright, organic video displays using materials dismissed by contemporaries.
Maximilian Riesenhuber
Programs computers to recognize objects the way the human brain does.
Linda Rottenberg
Helps entrepreneurs in emerging nations turn innovations into business.
Ted Sargent
Fashions photonic circuits that could speed voice and data to homes.
Tim Sibley
Serves up customized audio and video gems.
Alex Vasilescu
Transforms computers ability to recognize human faces.
Lorraine Wheeler
Codes software that makes handheld computers handier.
Tsuyoshi Yamamoto
Builds brain-imaging machines that are faster and cheaper than magnetic-resonance imaging equipment.
Materials
Scott Backhaus
Invented a novel, high-efficiency engine powered by sound waves.
Zhenan Bao
Fabricates organic semiconductors used in flexible and cheap electronic devices.
Marcela Bilek
Designs coatings to improve implanted medical devices and industrial tools.
Daniel Bond
Turns sea muck into fuel cell power plants.
Michael Bowman
Builds microturbines that could become the power plant of choice in many settings.
Colin Bulthaup
Developed new fabrication methods that could slash the cost of chip manufacturing.
Karen Burg
Engineered a minimally invasive process to rebuild tissue for breast cancer survivors.
Xiangfeng Duan
Transforms nanowires into incredibly small transistors for powerful, flexible computers.
Stephen Empedocles
Formulates business strategy for one of nanotechs leading startups.
Vladislav Gavrilets
Designs flight control technology that could lead to unmanned autonomous helicopters.
Scott Gaynor
Devises processes used to make polymers with improved properties.
Cary Gunn
Shrinks optical circuitry to speed transmissions on phone and Internet networks.
Yu Huang
Fashions three-dimensional grids of nanowires that act as electronic circuits.
Jordan Katrine
Makes higher-density hard drives using magnetic nanomaterials.
Krishna Kumar
Improves the stability and effectiveness of protein-based drugs.
David M. Lynn
Synthesizes polymers that are better able to deliver therapeutic genes.
David A. Muller
Images the individual atom that are critical to a transistors electronic properties.
Yasunobu Nakamura
Achieved a breakthrough that could help make quantum computing a reality.
Balaji Narasimhan
Devises time-release polymers to replace multiple vaccine injections.
Ravikanth Pappu
Fights credit card forgery with glass-bead “keys”.
Ainissa G. Ramirez
Formulated an advanced universal solder for electronics and optics.
Christian Rehtanz
Adds smarts to high-voltage power lines so they can deliver more electricity.
Manfred Stefener
Constructs small fuel cells to efficiently power laptop computers.
Claire Tomlin
Writes software that could alleviate air congestion and lead to far fewer delays at airports.
Stephen Turner
Built a tiny device that greatly speeds up DNA sequencing.
S. Travis Waller
Writes algorithms that determine why traffic jams form and how to ease them.
Ralf Wehrspohn
Fabricates nanotube crystals that can route optical telecommunications signals faster than competing chips.
Peidong Yang
Assembles nanowires that could revolutionize lasers and computers.