HOW WE WORK / Innovators Award

Ideas Construct the Future.

The catalyst for change lies at the intersection of inspired people and their passions. That's where new ideas emerge. With proper funding and cultivation those ideas can take many shapes and develop in any number of directions. That's why MDV partners devote time to fostering relations with universities and entrepreneurial researchers. Together they ensure that great ideas can take root.

MDV Innovators Award

The MDV Innovators Award recognizes extraordinary faculty for their innovative approaches to important challenges and for their entrepreneurial spirits. The Award supports funding to pilot a project that has the potential to disrupt current thinking in the field or provoke new avenues of research in the area of energy and materials. Currently this award is open to faculty at UC Berkeley and Stanford University.

Innovators Awardees

The MDV Innovators Award recipients in 2010 are:

  • Ali Javey
    UC Berkeley Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) scientist
  • Nick Melosh
    Stanford Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
  • Delia Milliron
    Inorganic Facility Director of the Molecular Foundry at LBNL


The MDV Innovators Award recipients in the 2008-2009 inaugural year were:

  • Yi Cui
    Materials Science and Engineering Department, Stanford University
  • Jan Liphardt
    Physics Department, UC Berkeley and the LBL Physical Biosciences Division
  • Mike McGehee
    Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University
  • Rachel Segalman
    Chemical Engineering Department, UC Berkeley and LBL Materials Sciences Division

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this award recognize?
This award recognizes extraordinary faculty early in their career for their innovative approaches to major scientific and technical challenges in energy and materials.
What do the awardees receive?
Awardees receive funding toward a one-year exploratory project that has potentially disruptive impact or could provoke a new field of study or technology development. Funding will cover salaries and supplies for one year. In addition to research funding, the MDV investment team is available to offer perspective and guidance on any commercial interests.
Who is eligible?
Faculty from UC Berkeley and Stanford University are nominated for this award by the MDV Innovators Award Advisors or by past Awardees. Nominees are early in their career or are making a career transition, are taking revolutionary and potentially high-impact directions with their research program, and may have interest in seeing their future discoveries commercialized. 
What obligations do the Awardees have?
The Award funding is a gift. Recipients and recipient institutions have no contractual obligations to MDV. The MDV investment team welcomes opportunities throughout the funding year to engage the Awardees and their lab members.
Who are the Advisors for MDV Innovator Award?
Five faculty from Stanford University and U.C. Berkeley advise MDV on the Innovators Award. Advisors are Professors Paul Alivisatos, Jay Keasling, and Paul Wright from UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley Labs; and Professors Sally Benson and Jeff Koseff from Stanford University. 
What is the MDV Innovators Advisor's role?
The MDV Advisors nominate candidates, evaluate their project proposals, and advise MDV on selecting Awardees. 
When are awards made?
The 2010 MDV Innovators will be announced in December 2009. 
Which awards and projects will MDV consider a success?
MDV aims to develop rich relationships with faculty thought leaders and innovators at Stanford and UC Berkeley who are doing research related to energy and materials. Successful Awards are those that lead to strong relationships with the Awardees. Successful projects may open new areas of research, and may lead the Awardee to substantial new grant funding. 
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