We were very honored to be tasked to organize the Trailblazer Workshop 2026, commissioned by National Science Foundation. The workshop took place at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center in Washington DC, on April 2nd and 3rd .
This work brought together the inaugural cohort of NSF Trailblazer awardees (https://www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-awards-inaugural-trailblazer-grants-groundbreaking), a group selected for pursuing bold, high‑risk engineering research with strong potential for long‑term societal impact. Alongside the awardees, we invited a small group of leaders from industry, government, and technology‑support organizations, including Sanofi, IonQ, Maryland Department of Commerce and ASTM, to help illuminate the broader pathway by which early‑stage innovations transition into practical applications.
During the workshop, We learned a great deal from one another—through the research talks, panel discussions, group sessions, and many informal conversations along the way.
Trailblazer Awarded PIs gave talks about their groundbreaking research.
Organized by Junjie, future leaders in enegineering also shared their vision and research with us in the future leader session.
The industry and government panel helped the PIs to map out the route from academic research to real-world applications.
NSF program officers from EFMA Drs. Alias Smith, Greg Rorrer and Sohi Rastegar; and the Head of Engineering Directorate Dr. Don Millard were here to show support!
The diversity of perspectives across disciplines, sectors, and career stages made this gathering especially meaningful, and it was wonderful to see new connections and ideas take shape. Thank you everyone for being part of this workshop! Thank you Lynne, Glennisha, Lucy and Ada from Department of Mechanical Engineering for logistical support- you are the best. Thank you Junjie, Alejandro, Daniel, Feiyu, Omkar, Stefan, Rushil for the incredible work to make this workshop run smoothly
