America’s Rising Stars Celebrated at Dazzling Awards Ceremony
Published November 04, 2019
On Monday, September 23, 2019, the Blavatnik Family Foundation hosted the sixth annual Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists Ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Over 225 guests attended including some of the country’s most prominent figures in science, business, and philanthropy. Cornell University President Martha E. Pollack served as Master of Ceremonies. She recognized the pivotal role that the New York Academy of Sciences has played in stewarding the Blavatnik Awards since 2007.
President Pollack introduced the 31 2019 Blavatnik National Awards Finalists by commenting “tonight we celebrate some of the boldest, most innovative minds now working in a massive, and, ever-expanding array of 21st Century scientific specialties ranging from creating new classes of materials to identifying predictors to improve crop yields to novel 2D and 3D polymer design and other radical advances.” Noting the diversity of this year’s honorees, President Pollack remarked “the 31 Finalists of the 2019 Blavatnik National Awards represent one of the most diverse arrays of scientists in the history of these honors. They hail from eleven different nations. They join what is now a global community of 284 Blavatnik Scholars, working in 35 different scientific disciplines, and representing 45 different countries. And over the years, there have been 90 women honored as Blavatnik Scholars, including nine tonight.”
“The 31 Finalists of the 2019 Blavatnik National Awards represent one of the most diverse arrays of scientists in the history of these honors.”
— Martha E. Pollack, PhD
During the ceremony three 2019 Blavatnik National Awards Laureates were honored, one each respectively in the categories of Chemistry, Physical Sciences & Engineering, and Life Sciences:
- Emily Balskus, PhD from Harvard University
- Ana Maria Rey, PhD, from the University of Colorado Boulder
- Heather J. Lynch, PhD from Stony Brook University
Explaining details of the prize, President Pollack stated “Those three Blavatnik Laureates each will receive an award of $250,000 to utilize however they choose. I just love saying that! However they choose!” After being congratulated by Mr. Blavatnik and receiving their medals, each Laureate gave a short scientific presentation. The ceremony concluded with the Blavatnik Awards tradition of making a “Toast to Science.” To read more details about the 2019 Blavatnik National Awards ceremony click here or visit the Blavatnik Awards website.