Award
Agents of Change Awards
The Materials Today Agents of Change (MTAOC) awards program provides two grants of up to $10,000 bi-annually to initiatives and programs that foster a more inclusive research environment in the materials science community.
2024 winners
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Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez
Professor, University of Texas
United States
Dr. Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and holds the L.B. (Preach) Meaders Professorship in Engineering. She received a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and Ph.D. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering from Case Western Reserve University under the guidance of Professors Anne Hiltner and Jim Anderson.
She then completed a UT-TORCH Postdoctoral Fellowship with Professor Tony Mikos at Rice University with a focus in orthopaedic tissue engineering. Dr. Cosgriff-Hernandez joined the faculty of at Texas A&M University as an Assistant Professor in 2007 and the University of Texas at Austin in 2017. Her laboratory specializes in the synthesis of hybrid biomaterials with targeted integrin interactions and scaffold fabrication strategies.
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Orlando Rojas
Professor, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Bioproducts | Scientific Director, Bioproducts Institute
Orlando Rojas
Professor, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Bioproducts | Scientific Director, Bioproducts Institute
Canada
Professor Orlando Rojas is the Canada Excellence Research Chair at the University of British Columbia and Director of the Bioproducts Institute. His research focuses on bio-based materials and soft matter. He is internationally recognized for his contributions to renewable materials science, and has received several prestigious honors, including the Anselme Payen Award, the highest distinction in cellulose and renewable materials research.
He is an elected Fellow of the American Chemical Society (2013), the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters (2017), and the TAPPI Association (2025). Earlier in his career, he served as a Finland Distinguished Professor and was named an inaugural Faculty Scholar at North Carolina State University.
Prof. Rojas maintains active collaborations with institutions across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. He serves on the Selection Committee of the Marcus Wallenberg Foundation and holds scientific advisory roles with organizations including the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, the VALUED Project (with Imperial College London, University of Bristol, and University of Cambridge), and the Materials Institute of the University of Santiago de Compostela.
He is Emeritus Editor of the Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology and Associate Editor of ACS Biomacromolecules. He is ranked among the top 1% of researchers globally by citations (Clarivate, Web of Science).
The Award
Jointly funded by the Materials Today Family of journals and the Elsevier Foundation, the awards demonstrate Materials Today’s long-term commitment to creating a more equitable workplace for materials scientists. We believe that a research community with a robust range of perspectives and backgrounds serves as a solid foundation for scientific advances in the field.
The Materials Today Agents of Change Awards annually recognize and support initiatives that are taking practical steps to encourage an actively inclusive materials science research community. Each year, two $10,000 grants are awarded to individuals or teams
making impactful strides in this area. With backing from the Elsevier Foundation, the awards expanded in 2023 to include a dedicated ceremony and gala dinner.
Application criteria
The Materials Today Family of journals team will review all Contest Entries submitted during the Contest Period and will select a shortlist of top Nominees by applying the following judging criteria to each Contest Entry:
- An overview of the initiative – what it intends to achieve and what it has achieved so far (if applicable)
- Key need the initiative addresses (incl. any data and/or initial insights sources used to identify the need)
- Target audience
- How the award money would help to support the initiative
- Proposed budget
- Proposed timeline for implementation
- A sustainability plan outlining how the project will continue beyond the initial grant (incl. data sources and/or initial insights that will be used to evaluate the initiative)
- A supporting statement from a nominator outlining the potential impact of the initiative and why the grant of the award would be significant for the initiative.
The Contest Entries of the shortlist of top Nominees will then be reviewed by the panel of judges using the criteria listed above.
Meet our scientific jury
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Charlotte Berrezueta
Ph.D. candidate in physics, Freie Universität Berlin
Ecuador
Charlotte Berrezueta Palacios is a Ph.D. candidate in physics at the Freie Universität Berlin, specializing in low-dimensional materials using Raman spectroscopy. Originally from the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, she earned her B.Sc. in nanotechnology engineering at Yachay Tech University before completing an M.Sc. in physics at the Freie Universität Berlin, where she continues her research in Prof. Stephanie Reich’s laboratory, focusing on 2D nanostructured materials, a field she has been working in since 2020. In addition to her academic pursuits, Charlotte is dedicated to science outreach. She co-chairs the Nanoscience Summer School at Yachay Tech (NSSY), a conference held in the Galapagos Islands that promotes student development and community engagement. She received the 2023 Materials Today Agents of Change Award for her contributions to NSSY.
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Vishal Chaudhary
Assistant professor, Bhagini Nivedita College, University of Delhi
India
Dr Vishal Chaudhary has been working as an assistant professor at the Bhagini Nivedita College, University of Delhi, India, since 2018. He is an expert in the field of green semiconductors at the nanoscale for One Health management, with a special focus on breath-based diagnosis, environmental sensors and waste-water remediation. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, 4 authored books, and 3 edited books in reputed journals. He has been recognised as Top 2% of Scientists in both 2023 and 2024 by the Stanford University List and is also serving as an associate editor and review editor in significant journals. He founded “The Happy Mentals Club” after battling depression during his doctorate tenure and started to aid the research community, especially students, for mental health-related help through his public talks and club events. He is the recipient of the 2023 Materials Today Agents of Change Award due to his dedicated work in the field of mental health for researchers. Currently, he is aiming to establish mental health clubs in academic and research institutes, examine the prevalence of mental health issues by conducting a survey during his talk and examining its causative factors, correlate mental health concerns with environmental factors, develop non-invasive biosensors to screen mental health, root out the stigma related to mental health, especially in LGBTQI+ community, and developing awareness on suicide prevention through his club and institute collaborative initiatives.
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Barbara Rothen
Professor, Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg
Switzerland
Prof. Dr. Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser has received her Ph.D. in 1996 in cell biology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ). She worked as postdoc and group leader at ETHZ and University of Bern, Switzerland. She is an expert in the field of cell-nanoparticle interactions, with a special focus on human 3D tissue models. Since 2011 she is the chair in BioNanomaterials at the Adolphe Merkle Institute (AMI), University of Fribourg, Switzerland, the position is shared equally with Prof. Alke Fink. Prof. RothenRutishauser has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and is associate editor of “Particle and Fibre Toxicology”. She is the recipient for the 2019 Materials Today Agents of Change Award with Dr. S. Martin Caba and Prof. A. Fink from the University of Fribourg.
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Lanell Williams
PhD Candidate, NSF GRFP Fellow, Harvard University
United States
LaNell A. Williams is a PhD Candidate and NSF GRFP Fellow at Harvard University. Her research focuses on understanding the self assembly of RNA-Viruses, in particular, the Bacteriophage MS2. She graduated from Wesleyan University with her BA in physics, and she went on to receive her MA in physics from Fisk University before going to Harvard. LaNell has also been heavily involved in programming with the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP). Additionally, she serves on the American Physical Society Council of Representatives representing the Forum on Graduate Students & the Forum on Early Careers. She is the founder of the Women+ of Color Project and hopes to encourage more BIWOC to pursue academic careers.
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Domiziana Francescon
Partnerships Director
Domiziana Francescon serves as the Elsevier Foundation’s Partnerships Director, where she works with partners around the world to establish collaborations that advance inclusive research and health – supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals. She also serves as Program Director for Elsevier’s corporate responsibility partnerships, especially focusing on sustainability and Inclusion & Diversity spaces. Additionally, Domiziana is the Co-Chair of the Eligibility team of Research4Life (www.research4life.org) , a UN-publisher partnership to bridge access gaps for researchers and doctors in the Global South – and she is actively involved in marketing and fundraising initiatives for the partnership.
