Alex Wissner-Gross, Ph.D. alexwg@post.harvard.edu

Alex Wissner-Gross is an Environmental Fellow at Harvard University. He has authored 14 publications, received 82 national and international distinctions, been issued 7 full and pending patents, and founded 4 companies. His research has been covered in Technology Review, BusinessWeek, USA Today, Scientific American, and The New York Times. In 2003, Alex became the last person in MIT history to receive a triple major, with bachelors in Physics, Electrical Engineering, and Mathematics, while graduating first in his class from the MIT School of Engineering. In 2007, Alex received his Ph.D. in Physics from Harvard for work on programmable surfaces, which dramatically increased the computational versatility of a range of materials. Before his science and technology career, Alex performed as a boy soprano with the New York City Opera.
2008 Winner, Summer@Highland Entrepreneurship Program (declined)
2008 Environmental Fellowship, Harvard University Center for the Environment
2008 Affiliate Fellowship, Harvard Center for Research on Computation and Society
2007 Harold T. White Prize for Excellence in Teaching, Harvard Physics Department
2007 Nominee, Derek C. Bok Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching of Undergraduates
2007 Dan David Prize Scholarship for Future Energy applications, Tel Aviv University
2007 Graduate Student Silver Award, Materials Research Society
2006 Finalist, named one of top 6 directors in amateur category, Materials Research Film Festival
2006 Nanotechnology paper selected for Institute of Physics Journal Highlights
2006 Book Prize, Harvard's Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning
2006 Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching
2006 Nominee, Harvard's Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize (only Physics nominee)
2004 First place (5km race) and Second place (500m race) team in division, Jichuan Cup International Dragon Boat Invitational Tournament for University Students in Tianjin, China
2003 Harvard Purcell Fellowship
2003 Malcolm Cotton Brown Award as top ranked MIT senior pursuing experimental physics
2003 Runner-Up, Stanford Entrepreneur's Challenge
2003 Finalist, MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition
2003 Henry Ford II Scholar Award, MIT School of Engineering
2003-2008  Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellowship
2003 One of 20 named to USA Today All-USA 1st Academic College Team
2003 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship (declined)
2003 DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (declined)
2003 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (declined)
2002 British Marshall Scholarship (declined)
2002 Winner in Tiny Technologies Category, MIT $1K Entrepreneurship Competition
2002 Elected to Tau Beta Pi (engineering) and Eta Kappa Nu (electrical & computer engineering) honor societies
2002 First place nationally, Inaugural Intel Undergraduate Research Award
2001-2003  Barry M. Goldwater Scholar
2001 Letters of commendation (top 2%) in 3 of the 4 core MIT EECS courses
2000 Director's Award, MITRE Corporation
2000 National Dean's List
1999 National Winner, New Technology, NITA Young Inventors & Creators Competition
1999 American Academy of Achievement's Salute to Excellence (personally sponsored by Lemelson Foundation)
1999 First place nationally, American Scholastic Mathematics Association (ASMA)
1999 Honorable Mention, First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics
1999 Valedictorian, Great Neck South High School
1999 National Winner, 10th Place, Intel Science Talent Search
1999 Inducted into National Young Inventors' Hall of Fame, National Gallery for America's Young Inventors
1999 One of 20 named to USA Today All-USA 1st Academic High School Team
1999 Lucent Global Science Scholar
1999 United States Navy Science Achievement Award
1999 Tandy Technology Scholar
1999 Grand Prize Winner, USA Math Talent Search (USAMTS)
1999 First Place, Army Physics Award, International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)
1999 Intel Best Use of PC Award, International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)
1999 Second Place, Physics Grand Award, International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)
1999 Second Place, Air Force Physics Award, International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)
1999 American Association of Physics Teachers Award, International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)
1999 Citation for Excellence, Nassau County Legislature
1999 International Honor Winner, Canadian Open Mathematics Challenge
1999 Honored Scholar, National Alliance for Excellence
1999 National AP Scholar
1999 National Merit Finalist
1998-1999 Who's Who Among American High School Students
1998-1999 First place in Senior Division with perfect score, American Computer Science League (ACSL)
1998 Member of U.S. team at International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)
1998 Second place nationally, USA Computer Olympiad Finals
1998 First Place individual, Fall Open Competition of USA Computer Olympiad
1998 First place nationally with perfect score, USA Math Talent Search (USAMTS)
1998 Winner and top-scoring American, Email Informatics Competition (EIC)
1998 Winner, Long Island Software Award
1998 Highest Scoring Student Award, American Scholastic Mathematics Association (ASMA)
1998 George Washington University School of Engineering & Applied Science Medal
1998 National Winner, Computer Science, NITA Young Inventors & Creators Competition
1998 Third place American and 14th place internationally, Central European Olympiad in Informatics (CEOI)
1998 First place out of 20,000 students with perfect score, Canadian Mathematics Fermat Competition
1998 First Place, C++, Continental Math League Computer Contest
1997 Fourth Place, Intel Grand Award in Computer Science, International Science and Engineering Fair
1997 Fourth place nationally, USA Computer Olympiad Fall Championship
1997 First place and top scoring U.S. sophomore, American Computer Science League (ACSL)
1997 Ross Young Scholar, Ohio State University
1997 AT&T Student Software Award, Long Island Software Awards
1997 Certificate of Achievement, Mathematical Contest in Modeling
1997 Certificate of Merit, The Assembly of the State of New York
1997 Certificate of Distinction, American High School Mathematics Examination
1997 Summa Cum Laude, National Latin Exam
1996-1998 Columbia University Science Honors Program
1996 Perfect Score, National Latin Exam
1995-1996 Creative Problem-Solving Institute for Gifted and Talented Students
1995 Summa Cum Laude, National Latin Exam
1995 First Place, Pascal, Continental Math League Computer Contest
1994-1995 John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY)
1994 State and Regional Award, Mathematics and Verbal Talent Search
1992-1993 Performed with the New York City Opera Company as a boy soprano (see Performing)