Hill Prizes Past Recipients
About the Hill Prizes
The Hill Prizes, funded by Lyda Hill Philanthropies, recognize and advance top Texas innovators and researchers whose work could have significant impact on science and society. The prizes propel high-risk, high-reward ideas and innovations that demonstrate very significant potential for real-world impact and can lead to new, paradigm-shifting paths in research.
The Hill Prizes have six categories: medicine, public health, engineering, biological sciences, physical sciences and technology. The medicine, public health, engineering, biological sciences and physical sciences prizes will be given to researchers and teams at academic and medical institutions. The Hill Prize in Technology will be given to individuals and teams in the private sector and government in applied sciences and engineering.
After an incredibly successful first year of the prizes, Lyda Hill Philanthropies has committed over $10 million in funding to continue the prize program for the next three years. The $10 million will include the addition of a new prize in the category of public health, resulting in six prizes per year of $500,000 each. In addition, at least $1 million in discretionary research funding will be allocated by Lyda Hill Philanthropies on an ad hoc basis to highly ranked applicants and finalists not selected as recipients.
Each prize recipient’s institution or organization will receive $500,000 in direct funding from Lyda Hill Philanthropies to accelerate their work. Prize recipients will be announced in January 2025 and recognized on February 4, 2025, at the opening reception of the TAMEST 2025 Annual Conference in Irving, Texas.
The goal of the prizes is to recognize exceptional innovators and provide seed funding to advance innovative science and highlight Texas as a premier destination for world-class research. The prizes will bridge the path from research to business development and further innovations that need additional funding to have a greater impact. The Hill Prizes will also put recipients in a stronger position to receive more research funding and seek large-scale grants and collaborations.
2025 Recipients
2025 Hill Prize in Medicine
Kenneth M. Hargreaves, D.D.S., Ph.D.
Professor of Endodontics, Pharmacology, Physiology and Surgery
President’s Council Endowed Chair in Research
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
For developing non-opioid analgesics, also known as painkillers, to reduce the use of opioids and prevent drug addiction.
2025 Hill Prize in Public Health
Peter J. Hotez, M.D., Ph.D. (NAM)
Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine
Professor of the Departments of Pediatrics, Molecular Virology & Microbiology
Co-Director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development
Baylor College of Medicine
For creating a critical response to escalating health risks intensified by climate disasters through The Texas Virosphere Project.
2025 Hill Prize in Engineering
Joan Frances Brennecke, Ph.D. (NAE)
Cockrell Family Chair in Engineering #16
McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
To develop advanced, stable and energy-efficient membrane technology to separate olefins (such as ethylene and propylene) from paraffins, a process crucial in many industries including petrochemicals.
Co-PI: Benny D. Freeman, Ph.D. (NAE), William J. (Bill) Murray, Jr. Endowed Chair in Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
2025 Hill Prize in Biological Sciences
David J. Mangelsdorf, Ph.D. (NAM, NAS)*
Professor and Chair
Department of Pharmacology
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Investigator
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
For exploring a novel vulnerability in the signaling pathway that governs soybean cyst nematode (SCN) infection in soybeans.
Co-PI: Steven A. Kliewer, Ph.D. (NAS), Professor of Molecular Biology and Diana K. and Richard C. Strauss Distinguished Chair in Developmental Biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center
*Dr. Mangelsdorf is a past recipient of the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Award in Medicine (2007).
2025 Hill Prize in Physical Sciences
James Chelikowsky, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics
Professor of Chemical Engineering
W.A. “Tex” Moncrief, Jr., Chair in Computational Materials
Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences
The University of Texas at Austin
For its innovative approach to designing and discovering permanent magnets that do not rely on rare-earth materials.
Co-PI: J. Ping Liu, Ph.D., Distinguished University Professor, Physics, The University of Texas at Arlington
2025 Hill Prize in Technology
Robert De Lorenzo, M.D.
President and Co-Founder
EmergenceMed LLC
For addressing longstanding issues in airway management for emergency, critical care and surgical settings.
Co-PI: R. Lyle Hood, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at San Antonio
2024 Recipients
2024 Hill Prize in Medicine
Martin M. Matzuk, M.D., Ph.D. (NAS)
Director of the Center for Drug Discovery and Chair, Stuart A. Wallace Chair, Robert L. Moody, Sr. Chair, and Professor in the Department of Pathology & Immunology
Baylor College of Medicine
For creating a novel approach to treat endometriosis.
Co-PIs: Stephen Palmer, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Baylor College of Medicine; Diana Monsivais, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine; Ramakrishna Kommagani, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine; Feng Li, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Baylor College of Medicine; Mingxing Teng, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Baylor College of Medicine
2024 Hill Prize in Engineering
Maria A. Croyle, Ph.D.
Professor of Pharmaceutics
College of Pharmacy
The University of Texas at Austin
For demonstrating innovative techniques that will allow vaccines and biological drugs to be transported without the need for temperature control, which could lead to the rapid global distribution of life-saving medicines.
Co-PI: Sogra Fathima Barakh Ali, Ph.D., Sr. Manufacturing Engineer, Jurata Thin Film
2024 Hill Prize in Biological Sciences
Russell A. DeBose-Boyd, Ph.D. (NAS)
Beatrice and Miguel Elias Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Science and a Professor of Molecular Genetics
UT Southwestern Medical Center
For his work’s potential to make statins more effective and provide insight into their side effects.
2024 Hill Prize in Physical Sciences
Allan H. MacDonald, Ph.D. (NAS)
Professor and Director of the Center for Complex Quantum Systems in the Department of Physics
The University of Texas at Austin
For the potential to create a new energy storage device, the quantum supercapacitor, a new, low-carbon way to store energy.
Co-PI: Emanuel Tutuc, Ph.D., B.N. Gafford Endowed Professorship in Electrical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin
2024 Hill Prize in Technology
Hermann Lebit, Ph.D.
Founder and Principal
Alma Energy
For developing clean, emission-free direct lithium extraction using geothermal energy.
Co-PIs: Jose Leobardo Bañuelos, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Physics, The University of Texas at El Paso; Benjamin Brunner, Ph.D., Associate Professor, The University of Texas at El Paso; Eva Deemer, Ph.D., Postdoctorate Researcher Center for Inland Desalination Systems, The University of Texas at El Paso; Mark Engle, Ph.D., Professor, The University of Texas at El Paso; Natalya Kharitonova, Principle, Alma Energy
