Five Houston scientists have been acknowledged for his or her “high-risk, high-reward ideas and innovations” by Lyda Hill Philanthropies and the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science and Technology (TAMEST).
The 2026 Hill Prizes present seed funding to prime Texas researchers. This yr’s prizes got out in seven classes, together with organic sciences, engineering, drugs, bodily sciences, public well being and know-how, and the brand new synthetic intelligence award.
Each recipient’s establishment or group will obtain $500,000 in direct funding from Dallas-based Lyda Hill Philanthropies. The group has additionally dedicated to giving at the very least $1 million in discretionary analysis funding on an advert hoc foundation for highly-ranked candidates who weren’t chosen as recipients.
“It is with great pride that I congratulate this year’s Hill Prizes recipients. Their pioneering spirit and unwavering dedication to innovation are addressing some of the most pressing challenges of our time – from climate resilience and energy sustainability to medical breakthroughs and the future of artificial intelligence,” Lyda Hill, founding father of Lyda Hill Philanthropies, mentioned in a news release.
The 2026 Houston-area recipients embody:
Biological Sciences: Susan M. Rosenberg, Baylor College of Medicine
Rosenberg and her crew are growing methods to struggle antibiotic resistance. The crew will use the funding to display screen a 14,000-compound drug library to establish extra candidates, examine their mechanisms and take a look at their potential to enhance antibiotic effectiveness in animal fashions. The purpose is to transfer towards medical trials, starting with veterans affected by recurrent infections.
Medicine: Dr. Raghu Kalluri, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Kalluri is growing eye drops to deal with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the main explanation for imaginative and prescient loss globally. Kalluri will use the funding to speed up research and help testing for added ocular circumstances. He was additionally named to the National Academy of Inventors’ newest class of fellows final month.
Engineering: Naomi J. Halas, Rice University
Co-recipeints: Peter J. A. Nordlander and Hossein Robatjazi, Rice University
Halas and her crew are working to advance light-driven applied sciences for sustainable ammonia synthesis. The crew says it can use the funding to enhance light-driven catalysts for changing nitrogen into ammonia, refine prototype reactors for sensible deployment and associate with business collaborators to advance larger-scale purposes. Halas and Nordlander are co-founders of Syzygy Plasmonics, and Robatjazi serves as vp of analysis for the corporate.
The different Texas-based recipients embody:
- Artificial Intelligence: Kristen Grauman, The University of Texas at Austin
- Physical Sciences: Karen L. Wooley, Texas A&M University; Co-Recipient: Matthew Stone, Teysha Technologies
- Public Health: Dr. Elizabeth C. Matsui, The University of Texas at Austin and Baylor College of Medicine
- Technology: Kurt W. Swogger, Molecular Rebar Design LLC; Co-recipients: Clive Bosnyak, Molecular Rebar Design, and August Krupp, MR Rubber Business and Molecular Rebar Design LLC
Recipients shall be acknowledged Feb. 2 through the TAMEST 2026 Annual Conference in San Antonio. They have been decided by a committee of TAMEST members and endorsed by a committee of Texas Nobel and Breakthrough Prize Laureates and accepted by the TAMEST Board of Directors.
“On behalf of TAMEST, we are honored to celebrate the 2026 Hill Prizes recipients. These outstanding innovators exemplify the excellence and ambition of Texas science and research,” Ganesh Thakur, TAMEST president and a distinguished professor on the University of Houston, added within the launch. “Thanks to the visionary support of Lyda Hill Philanthropies, the Hill Prizes not only recognize transformative work but provide the resources to move bold ideas from the lab to life-changing solutions. We are proud to support their journeys and spotlight Texas as a global hub for scientific leadership.”