Activate Welcomes 50 Scientist-Entrepreneurs to 2026 U.S. Fellowship Cohort
Competitive Program Supports Founders Building the Next Generation of Hard-Tech Companies
BERKELEY, CA, UNITED STATES, July 14, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Activate, the nonprofit organization building the community that drives science into impact, today announced the next 50 scientist entrepreneurs selected for its prestigious two-year U.S. fellowship program. The fellows, drawn from across the country, will receive funding, technical resources, and unparalleled mentorship and network support to turn their transformative research into hard-tech companies.
Cohort 2026 was selected by committees of the world’s top subject matter experts and spans a wide range of technologies—from the first instrument to sequence proteins directly and antimicrobials that work with bacterial biology to defeat drug resistance, to flood intelligence platforms and living shoreline restoration, to crops that fertilize themselves from the air and cell cultivation breakthroughs that make biomanufacturing accessible for the first time.
“This cohort clearly demonstrates that the next industry-defining companies won't choose between modern technology and deep science; they'll be built by combining both,” said Cyrus Wadia, CEO of Activate. “These are the scientists and engineers turning our most urgent global challenges into the companies that will deliver a more sustainable future.”
The Activate Fellows in Cohort 2026, grouped by focus areas, are:
Energy: From AI chips to fuel cells, reimagining how power works
Alex Wynn & Camron Blackburn, Adiabatic Machines
Sophie Clare Broun, Anning Corporation
Katherine Andersen, Brint Tech
Yashee Mathur, Hydrify
Dorsa Talebi, Kinetiq Drive
Mani Chandra, nOhm Devices
Lucy Wu & Edson Perez, PeraWatt
Ruofan Wang & Joshua Persky, Teragen Energy
Food & Agriculture: Feeding the world with less land, waste, and inputs
Matthew Szarzanowicz, BasidioBio
Natalie Rubio & John Yuen Jr., Deco Labs
Michael Saad & Sophia Letcher, Entocellular
Saurabh Malani, Fermeate
Boyan Xu, Gilly
Solene Moulin, Haven Biofoundry
Neethu Pottackal, Nivera
Elizabeth Hann & Marcus Harland-Dunaway, Nolux
Akhila Mallavarapu, Vividence Labs
Materials & Manufacturing: Innovating new materials to make products stronger, cleaner, and more resilient
Miana Smith, Apidae Forms
Anthony Berardi, Citrimer
Ella Csuka, Ecotune
Nicolas Herard, Euler Materials
Spencer Dansereau, Mach Electric Inc.
Charles Dove, NeoOptics
Zach Detweiler, Radify Metals
Timothy Lee, Renesin
Tongwei Xu, Redox Metals
Joshua Livingston, Selerra Separations
Amy Jean Swanson, Ultropia
Life Sciences & Health: Unlocking biology's hidden signals to transform medicine and health
Laura White, Andon Bio
Devon McCornack, Marva Labs
Grace Akinyele, Mitovon Biosciences
Elsy El Khoury & Naixin Qian, Nanovib
Stacy Anderson & Lindsey Williams, Primary Bioscience
Adaptation & Environment: Turning today's environmental crises into manageable, solvable problems
Walter Zesk, Coastal Assembly
Anmol Laxmankumar Purohit, CureXco
Katerina Boukin, Flood Dynamics
Jinyu Guo & Kindle Williams, Recovered Potential
Wenli Jiang, SwieNitro Recovery
Space & Defense: Pushing the boundaries of space propulsion and adaptive wireless technology
Xingyu Du, OneFiltr
Jonathan Huffman, Orbital Arc
Stefan Bell, Sagitta Borealis Systems
This announcement marks the 12th cohort of Activate’s U.S. flagship fellowship program, which was founded in 2015 and has grown into one of the most connected communities in hard tech. To date, Activate Fellows have founded over 275 companies and raised over $5.5 billion in follow-on funding, creating over 3,000 jobs across the United States. Beyond the numbers, Activate's alumni network remains one of the program's most distinctive assets, with former fellows continuing to mentor, collaborate with, and support one another long after the fellowship ends.
As a nonprofit organization, Activate relies on partnerships with funders across government and private philanthropy to make the fellowship possible. Supporters of Cohort 2026 include the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Mass Clean Energy Center (MassCEC), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Cyclotron Road, a U.S. Department of Energy Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program (LEEP) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
About Activate Global
Activate is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to turning scientific discoveries into real-world impact. Through partnerships with government, philanthropy, universities, and industry, Activate builds the cross-sector ecosystem that drives hard-tech innovation—equipping scientists and engineers with world-class resources, training, and community to bring their work from discovery to deployment.
Since 2015, Activate's flagship fellowship has supported nearly 350 fellows across the United States, who have launched more than 275 companies and secured over $5.5 billion in follow-on funding. Now expanding beyond its flagship program, Activate is reaching scientists and engineers at more stages of their entrepreneurial journey across the world—multiplying the pathways from innovation to commercialization.
Whitney McGoram
McGoram Consulting
whitney@mcgoramconsulting.com
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