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Catalyst Awards presented to 20 early-career Johns Hopkins faculty

Faculty across dozens of disciplines awarded $100K to pursue their work

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Published June 17, 2025

Across seven academic divisions of the university, 20 promising early-career faculty members have been selected to receive the prestigious 2025 Johns Hopkins Catalyst Awards.

This year's Catalyst Award recipients are advancing bold and varied lines of inquiry—from early warning systems to prevent inpatient deaths and AI-guided design of programmable CO2 adsorbents, to novel therapies for treatment-resistant depression. One project evaluates how environmental exposures over time contribute to Alzheimer's-related dementias, with a focus on the mediating role of sleep. Another explores how high school literacy instruction can better serve students with intellectual disabilities by examining current teaching methods. Together, these projects reflect the ambition and creative drive that define Johns Hopkins research.

These experts represent 19 departments—including Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Epidemiology, Genetics Medicine, Physics and Astronomy, and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

"Early career investigators have long been part of the bold tradition of innovation and discovery that has improved and saved lives and broadened the horizons of knowledge," said Johns Hopkins University President Ron Daniels. "In a moment of uncertainty surrounding federal research funding, Johns Hopkins is deeply committed to making this critical investment in early-stage faculty across our university, supporting their ability—now and in the future—to pursue ideas with world-changing impact."

The 2025 honorees were selected based on their accomplishments to date, creativity and originality, and academic impact. Each will receive a $100,000 grant to advance their research. Awardees will also be provided mentoring and professional development opportunities aimed at strengthening connections across the early-career faculty community.

"The Catalyst Awards are a powerful reaffirmation of Johns Hopkins' commitment to championing early-career scholars and enabling their pursuit of exciting research directions," said Provost Ray Jayawardhana. "This year's recipients exemplify the relentless curiosity and originality that fuel discovery and deliver novel solutions across a tremendous range of fields."

The Catalyst Awards program was launched in early 2015 in tandem with the Discovery Awards program for interdivisional collaborations. Together they represent an $85 million university commitment to faculty-led research by university leadership along with the deans and directors of JHU's divisions.

The Catalyst Awards program is open to any full-time faculty member appointed to a tenure-track position within the past 3 to 10 years. Faculty from across the university served on the committee that selected the awardees from this year's pool of 123 submissions.

This is the tenth year of the program, which has now recognized a total of 336 high-potential faculty from all divisions of the institution.

"Year after year, the Catalyst Awards remind us of the remarkable talent and drive of our early-career faculty," said Denis Wirtz, JHU's vice provost for research. "This year's awardees are pushing boundaries in every corner of the university, and their proposals reflect the creativity, rigor, and intellectual boldness that define research at Hopkins."

The 2026 cycle for both the Catalyst and Discovery Awards will open this fall, continuing Johns Hopkins' commitment to supporting faculty-led innovation across disciplines. In addition, the university recently launched Pivot and Bridge Grant programs to assist faculty facing uncertainty or disruption in federal funding. These flexible, needs-based awards are intended to help researchers sustain momentum through gaps in support or pursue new directions following grant terminations. Together with the Catalyst and Discovery Awards, these programs form a robust framework for advancing faculty research at all stages.

2025 Johns Hopkins Catalyst Award recipients:

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