The award is open to all Princeton faculty in all disciplines.

Now in its fourth year, the Dean for Research Award for Distinguished Innovation recognizes a technology or innovation led by a Princeton faculty member whose scholarly activity and creative thinking provides solutions to societal challenges. The award will be presented at Celebrate Princeton Innovation, an event honoring faculty and other researchers whose work has the potential to benefit society, on October 12, 2023.

Nominations are due by midnight, July 31. More information and the nomination form are posted. 

The award was established by Dean for Research Pablo Debenedetti in 2020. “Open to all Princeton faculty, across all disciplines, this award acknowledges the vital importance of bringing University research to bear on the challenges facing our world, and placing that research in the service of humanity,” said Debenedetti. The award is part of the University’s commitment to fostering a culture of innovation and raising the visibility of Princeton’s innovators. 

In 2020, Robert Prud’homme, professor of chemical and biological engineering, received the inaugural award for the invention of flash nanoprecipitation, a method of creating nanoparticles for targeted delivery of medications. The 2021 award was given to Mohammad Seyedsayamdost, professor of chemistry, for a system for discovering entirely new classes of antibiotics. In 2022,  Zemer Gitai, Princeton’s Edwin Grant Conklin Professor of Biology and a professor of molecular biology, was recognized for a new drug-discovery platform that searches out drug candidates with unique or novel mechanisms of action. 

Self-nominations are accepted.

Questions? Contact Michael Hodges ( Email ) Associate Director, Corporate Engagement and Foundation Relations.