Hill Prizes Information Session Recording and Slides Now Available
On July 12, TAMEST hosted an information session on the new Hill Prizes, funded by Lyda Hill Philanthropies. More than 200 individuals joined the session to learn more about the program, application process and selection criteria. Video and slides from the session are now available.
The Hill Prizes will fund high-risk, high-reward big ideas and innovations that demonstrate very significant potential for real-world impact. The prizes include five categories: Medicine, Engineering, Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences and Technology and each of the five recipients will receive $500,000 in funding from Lyda Hill Philanthropies to accelerate their work.
“If there is one word that is the most important word in the evaluation criteria of the Hill Prizes it is the potential for impact,” said David E. Daniel, Ph.D. (NAE), Chair of the Hill Prizes Committee and Past President of TAMEST. “The $500,000 is a bit of a bridge fund, if you will, from idea to impact … we are very broad in our willingness to think about impact, it can happen in many ways, but certainly it is going to be a key element.”
The Hill Prizes Committee is composed of 24 TAMEST members (Texas-based members of the National Academies) divided into five subcommittees, each representing one of the five prize categories. The subcommittees will evaluate applicants and recommend finalists in consultation with National Academy external reviewers from outside of Texas. A committee of Texas Nobel and Breakthrough Laureates will review and endorse the finalists. The TAMEST Board of Directors will then give final approval of the prize recipients.
“This will give $2.5 million dollars in research funding to the top scientists in Texas and will be an important source of seed funding to advance innovative science and highlight Texas as a premier destination for world-class research,” said TAMEST Board President Brendan Lee, M.D., Ph.D. (NAM), Baylor College of Medicine. “We look forward to advancing exceptional innovators and the most exciting research in the state thanks to the vision and support of Lyda Hill.”
Submissions will be judged on the uniqueness of idea behind the research, potential for commercial application and/or real-world impact, strengths of research group leader and/or team and the ability and availability of key personnel and infrastructure to execute the work and achieve success with the prize funding to be awarded.
Prize recipients must be from a Texas institution or company and stay active there for at least one year after receiving the prize award funding. Applicants must have had 15 years of experience by calendar year after their first full-time faculty (tenure track or tenured) or industry-affiliated appointment the year the application is submitted.
The inaugural recipients will be honored at a prize ceremony the evening of February 5, 2024, at the opening reception of the TAMEST 2024 Annual Conference in Austin, Texas.
The deadline to apply for the Hill Prizes is August 11, 2023.
For more information, please visit the Hill Prizes Frequently Asked Questions page and Hill Prizes Application Guide.
