The 2018 class includes six women, the highest proportion of women of any class in the Foundation’s history, with Fellows’ research focusing on chemistry, electrical engineering, computer science, mathematics, and physics.

Several of this year’s Fellows have already published papers in disciplines from biological chemistry to quantum computing.

“The 2018 fellowship awardees are an outstanding group of students, with diverse talents and an extraordinary drive to reach new heights in scientific research and technological innovation,” said Robbee Baker Kosak, president, Fannie and John Hertz Foundation. (shown in photo)

“We are delighted to welcome these six women and four men to the Hertz Community. They join the hundreds of Hertz Fellows who are leading important breakthroughs and developing some of the most important scientific and engineering solutions to challenges in our world today. We look forward to seeing what these 10 women and men contribute to that goal in the coming years.”

The Hertz Foundation is the only organization in the United States that supports Ph.D. candidates for a full five years at one of the Foundation’s numerous partner institutions and grants students total research freedom, ensuring that each Fellow is able to pursue the most compelling, cutting-edge research.

Members of Hertz’s 2018 class hail from eight different states and nine different undergraduate schools.

The 2018 Hertz Fellowship recipients include:

Alexandra Brown, a new fellow, said she hoped the Hertz Community would give her new perspectives on her research. “In chemistry, you’re influenced by both physics and biology, but you don’t necessarily interact with people from those fields in your day to day life,” she said. “I’m excited to talk to people who I wouldn’t normally encounter and foster new connections between our ideas.”

The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation is the legacy of John Hertz, a Hungarian immigrant who made his fortune by capitalizing on the entrepreneurship prospects in the budding automotive industry. He believed that innovative and entrepreneurial solutions were vital to the strength, security, and prosperity of our nation—and began the Foundation to support exceptionally talented students expected to have the greatest impact on the world’s problems.

To date, Hertz Fellows collectively possess more than 3,000 patents, have founded more than 200 companies and have received more than 200 major national and international awards, including eight Breakthrough Prizes in Science, a Fields Medal, a Turing Award and two Nobel Prizes.

Celebrating 60 years in 2017, the 1,200 Hertz Fellows are leaders, shapers, and disruptors of American science, engineering and mathematics.

For more information on the Hertz Foundation and the innovations led by Hertz Fellows please visit www.hertzfoundation.org.