The Resnick Sustainability Institute at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has established an award, called RESONATE, that will honor cutting-edge work that addresses some of the hardest problems in energy and sustainability. The award winners will be announced in the Spring of 2014. The RESONATE Awards will focus on innovative, paradigm-shifting work from individuals at an early stage in their careers, whose ideas are worthy of significant, widespread recognition. This work can be from many fields including science, technology, economics, public policy, or others.

The intent of the awards is to draw attention to the innovators making significant strides in some of the grand challenges facing humanity, within the context of achieving global sustainability. These include meeting the world’s energy needs sustainably, providing water and food for a growing world population, cleaning the environment, improving people’s access to the natural resources they need to live a productive life, and others.

“The big issues in sustainability demand a perspective that is creative, global, and untethered by prior conventional wisdom,” said Dr. Harry Atwater, Director of the Resnick Sustainability Institute, and Howard Hughes Professor and Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science Caltech. “These awards have been created to encourage and honor people who are rethinking solutions to conquer these challenges.”

The RESONATE judging panel will be comprised of a team of individuals appointed by Resnick Sustainability Institute leadership. Judges will be selected based on their track records of outstanding achievement in academia, industry, government, journalism, and society.