Guan among finalists for the 2025 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists
The Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences has announced the Finalists for the 2025 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists. For the third time, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Professor Kaiyu Guan is among the 18 Finalists, an acknowledgment of his advancements in the award’s life sciences category.
Guan is being recognized for developing breakthrough technologies in remote sensing, modeling, and AI to drive sustainable farming, shape national policies, and to power industry decarbonization in agriculture. Guan’s research group uses computational models, satellite data, field work, and artificial intelligence to address how climate and human practices affect crop productivity, water resource availability, and ecosystem functioning. His team aims to increase our society’s resilience and adaptability to maintain the sustainability of ecosystem services, food security, and water resources.
A professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, Guan is also the Levenick ACES Professor, Blue Waters Professor for supercomputing, and the Founding Director of the Agroecosystem Sustainability Center at U. of I. He serves as the Chief Scientist for the NASA Acres Program.
“I’m deeply honored to be named a finalist for the third time,” Guan said. “This recognition reflects the tremendous dedication of my team, collaborators, and partners. It affirms that our work continues to push the boundaries of science while delivering tangible impact — transforming how agriculture and environmental sustainability intersect. As our work expands globally — from the U.S. Midwest to Southeast Asia and South America — we remain committed to driving innovation at the intersection of science, technology, and policy to shape a more sustainable future for our planet.
Guan has published 180+ papers in leading scientific journals and leads multiple major federal grants from NASA, NSF, DOE, and USDA. Guan is the awardee of the AGU James Macelwane Medal, AGU fellow, NSF CAREER Award, NASA New Investigator Award, AGU Early Career Award in Global Environmental Change, and FoodShot Global GroundBreaker Prize.
Internationally recognized by the scientific community, the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists have been instrumental in expanding the engagement and recognition of young scientists and providing the support and encouragement needed to drive scientific innovation for the next generation. By the close of 2025, the Blavatnik Awards will have recognized over 500 scientists from 120 international research institutions and awarded prizes totaling nearly $20 million.
“The goal of the Blavatnik Awards is to recognize early-career scientists conducting bold and creative work, support their professional growth and development, and accelerate scientific discovery to improve lives and drive innovation,” said Len Blavatnik, Founder of Access Industries and Head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation.
Nicholas B. Dirks, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences and Chair of the Awards’ Scientific Advisory Council, noted, “Congratulations to these 18 exceptional Finalists. From new tools and technologies for environmental sustainability and climate resiliency to novel therapies to cure disease and insights into the fundamental physics underpinning the world around us, their research is advancing science and protecting our planet.”
Since launching in 2014, scientists honored by the Blavatnik National Awards have received over $9 million in prize money.
Blavatnik scholars are driving economic growth globally by embarking on new scientific trajectories to pursue high-risk, high-reward scientific research. To date, Blavatnik Awards honorees have founded 50 companies after receiving the award, six of which are publicly traded and collectively valued at over $10 billion.
Subra Suresh, ScD, Former Director of the National Science Foundation and current President of the Global Learning Council in Switzerland, will announce the three 2025 Laureates at an October 7th awards ceremony at the American Museum of Natural History.
Each Laureate will receive an unrestricted award of $250,000, the world’s largest unrestricted science prize, available for early-career scientists in the U.S. The remaining 15 Finalists will each receive $15,000.
An independent jury of expert scientists selected this year’s Finalists from a pool of 310 nominees representing 161 academic and research institutions across 42 U.S. states.
Guan is also affiliated with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science at U. of I.