

2022
Innovators Under 35
Spoiler alert: Our annual Innovators Under 35 contest isn’t actually about what a small group of smart young people have been up to (although that’s certainly part of it). It’s really about where technology is headed next. As you read about what problems this year’s winners have set out to solve, you’ll also glimpse the near future of AI, biotech, materials, computing, and the fight against climate change. To connect the dots, we asked five experts—all judges or former winners—to write short essays about where they see the most promise, and the biggest potential roadblocks, in their respective fields. We hope the list inspires you and gives you a sense of what to expect in the years ahead.

Computing
Computers will be transformed by alternative materials and approaches—maybe sooner than you think

Judges
Pieter Abbeel
Professor, UC Berkeley; Cofounder, Covariant; Podcast host, The Robot Brains
Animashree Anandkumar
Bren Professor, Caltech; Director of AI Research, Nvidia
David Berry
CEO, Valo Health; General Partner, Flagship Pioneering
Ed Boyden
Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology, MIT/HHMI
Meredith Broussard
Associate Professor, NYU
Yet-Ming Chiang
Kyocera Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT
James Collins
Termeer Professor, MIT
James Dahlman
Associate Professor, Georgia Tech and Emory School of Medicine
Cesar de la Fuente
Presidential Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Oren Etzioni
CEO, Allen Institute for AI; Professor Emeritus, Computer Science, University of Washington
Javier Garcia Martinez
Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Alicante, Spain; President, International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry
Julia R. Greer
Mettler Professor of Materials, Mechanics, and Medical Engineering, Caltech
Zhen Gu
Qiushi Distinguished Chair, Professor, and Dean of School of Pharmacy, Zhejiang University
Rachel Haurwitz
President and CEO, Caribou Biosciences
Guosong Hong
Assistant Professor, Stanford University
Marc Lajoie
CEO, Outpace Bio
Hao Li
CEO and Cofounder, Pinscreen; Associate Professor, MBZUAI
Zlatko Minev
Quantum Physicist, IBM Quantum; Founder, Open Labs
Andrew Ng
Founder, DeepLearning.AI; CEO, Landing AI; General Partner, AI Fund
Nicole Paulk
Assistant Professor, University of California, San Francisco
Mariana Popescu
Assistant Professor, TU Delft
John Rogers
Simpson/Querrey Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Neurological Surgery, Northwestern University
Nabiha Saklayen
CEO and Cofounder, Cellino
Julian Schrittweiser
Senior Staff Researcher, DeepMind
Rachel Sheinbein
Venture Partner, Gratitude Railroad
Varun Sivaram
Senior Director for Clean Energy and Innovation, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate
Mona Sloane
Sociologist, New York University, University of Tübingen
Cyrus Wadia
Head of WW Product Sustainability, Amazon
Minmin Yen
CEO and Cofounder, PhagePro
Jackie Y. Ying
Director, NanoBio Lab; A*STAR Senior Fellow
Ben Zhao
Neubauer Professor of Computer Science, University of Chicago
Credits
Editing: Allison Arieff, Rachel Courtland, Tim Maher, Amy Nordrum, David Rotman
Art direction: Stephanie Arnett, Eric Mongeon, Vichhika Tep
Copy editing: Linda Lowenthal
Engagement: Juliet Beauchamp, Abby Ivory-Ganja
Illustration: Chad Hagen