The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation today announced its 2026 cohort of fellows, including five current and incoming students of the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Harvard Griffin GSAS). Awarded each year, the fellowship is one of the most prestigious and competitive honors in the applied sciences, engineering, and mathematics, providing doctoral students with the financial freedom to pursue innovative research with significant social impact.
"Year after year, the Hertz Fellowship identifies individuals whose ambitions go far beyond personal achievement. This class is no exception,” said Stephen Fantone, chair of the Hertz Foundation board of directors and president and CEO of Optikos Corporation. “Our newest Hertz Fellows are committed to solving problems that matter for our national security, our health, and our future.”
The Harvard Griffin GSAS recipients—Adam Distler, Daniel Lesman, Miller MacDonald, Matthew Werneken, and Eric Zhu—are among 19 fellows chosen from more than 800 applicants representing the nation’s top research universities. This year’s fellows were selected for their potential to provide solutions to some of the world’s most daunting challenges, ranging from the origins of the universe to the future of human health.
Adam Distler, a PhD student in the Department of Astronomy, is broadly interested in how changes in the galactic environment affect the habitability of exoplanets in the search for life across the galaxy. His earlier work focused on exoplanet detection and characterization, and he has also investigated gravitational dynamics ranging from small planets to massive black holes. Distler earned his bachelor’s degree in two years from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, majoring in astronomy-physics and mathematics.
Daniel Lesman, a student in biophysics, is pursuing an MD-PhD. His research centers on developing computational and experimental techniques to study proteins that circulate in the blood. Lesman spent two years at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, earning master’s degrees in global health and statistics. Lesman earned a bachelor’s degree in biomedical science from The Ohio State University, where he worked on therapeutics for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
An incoming PhD student, Miller MacDonald is currently completing his undergraduate studies at Harvard College, where he works to understand the high-energy astrophysical sources of fundamental particles called neutrinos. He currently works within the IceCube Collaboration, using data collected by the largest telescope on Earth to search for neutrino emission from sources in the Milky Way. As a Fulbright Fellow, he will spend the 2026-27 academic year as a guest researcher at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen before beginning his studies at Harvard Griffin GSAS.
Matthew Werneken, a PhD student in the Department of Astronomy, aims to design the next generation of observatories on the ground and in space to solve the mysteries behind how galaxies form and evolve. He is currently working on a major new survey to map the cold gas in the halo of our galaxy and set constraints on the distribution, mass, and temperature phases of this “circumgalactic medium/” He is also supporting the design and build of an accompanying high-throughput spectrograph, which will be a cornerstone tool in measuring astrophysical transients after it is commissioned in 2027. Werneken graduated from Columbia University with dual degrees in mechanical engineering and astrophysics in 2025.
Eric Zhu’s research interests lie at the intersection of theoretical physics and cutting-edge experimental platforms in atomic, molecular, and optical physics. An incoming Harvard Griffin GSAS PhD student, Zhu hopes to use quantum simulators — devices with rapidly growing capabilities for coherent control over quantum degrees of freedom — to experimentally probe questions that were once thought to be purely theoretical.
Founded in 1957, the Hertz Foundation seeks to accelerate scientific and technological solutions for the United States. The fellowship provides up to five years of funding, totaling as much as $250,000, which includes full tuition equivalent and a personal stipend. Beyond financial support, the fellowship offers a lifelong community of more than 1,200 fellows, a network that includes Nobel laureates, MacArthur Fellows, and pioneers in private industry and national security.
The 2026 cohort joins a legacy of scholars who are encouraged to take risks and explore unconventional ideas. By removing the constraints of traditional grant funding, the Hertz Fellowship allows students like those from Harvard Griffin GSAS to follow their curiosity wherever it leads.
This announcement was composed from materials provided by the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation. For more information about the foundation and the 2026 Hertz Fellows, please visit hertzfoundation.org.
