Thirty-eight talented early-career faculty members representing all nine academic divisions of the university will receive 2022 Johns Hopkins Catalyst Awards.

This year’s Catalyst Awardees will investigate a host of novel research areas including developing new measures to better advance indigenous health research, redefining laser safety for photoacoustic-guided liver surgery, exploring Asian identity and representation on the American opera stage, identifying the long-term impacts of chemical warfare on survivors, and studying conserved cellular and molecular mechanisms governing organ size in skin to ultimately create high-quality, functional skin on demand.

These experts represent twenty-nine departments—including Anthropology, Biostatistics, Comparative Thought and Literature, Environmental Health and Engineering, Music Theory, Otolaryngology, and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.

“Time and again, we have seen the incredible benefits that redound to the world from investments in exceptional early-career scholars,” says Johns Hopkins University President Ron Daniels. “In a still-uncertain funding environment, these awards enable us to deliver on our mission to foster and support the best and most innovative ideas of our faculty.”

The 2022 honorees—selected on the basis of their accomplishments to date, creativity and originality, and academic impact—will each receive a $75,000 grant to support their work over the next year. They also will have the opportunity to participate in mentoring sessions and events designed to connect these colleagues at similar stages in their careers.

The Catalyst Awards program was launched in early 2015, as was the Discovery Awards program for interdivisional collaborations. Together the two programs represent a $45 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 three to 10 years. Faculty from across the university served on the committee that selected the awardees from a pool of 123 submissions.

This is the seventh year of the program, which has now recognized a total of 244 high-potential faculty from all divisions of the institution.

“Bold innovation lies at the heart of the Catalyst Awards,” says Denis Wirtz, JHU’s vice provost for research. “This year’s selected proposals push the boundaries of their fields, and we are thrilled to support these faculty members and their visionary research at our institution. Congratulations to our new cohort; we look forward to working and celebrating with you over the next year.”

2022 INBT Catalyst Award recipients are:

• Netz Arroyo, Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, School of Medicine
• Luo Gu, Materials Science and Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering
• Sashank Reddy, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, School of Medicine

View all the recipients on the Hub.