May 19, 2014 — The winners of the inaugural Resonate Awards were announced today at the Fortune Brainstorm Green conference in Laguna Niguel, Calif. Sponsored by the California Institute of Technology’s Resnick Sustainability Institute, the awards recognize innovative and potentially game-changing solutions to some of Earth’s most pressing energy and environmental challenges.

The five recipients of this year’s award represent a diverse array of disciplines. Thomas Francisco Jaramillo of Stanford University has developed catalysts that drive chemical reactions needed for renewable energy production and storage. Shinichi Komaba from Tokyo University of Science and Kyoto University has created safer lithium-ion batteries for energy storage. Javad Lavaei of Columbia University has advanced sophisticated mathematics for optimizing the electric smart grid. Sarah Kearney, founder and director of PRIME Coalition, has started a new investment model to fund innovative ventures focused on global social problems. And Jay Whitacre, associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University and founder and CTO of Aquion Energy, is commercializing an energy storage solution for intermittent renewable energy sources.

“Our goal is to bring hope for the planet by shining a light on unheralded innovators who are on the cusp of big, important ideas,” said Harry Atwater, director of the Resnick Sustainability Institute and Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics at Caltech, in a press release announcing the awards. “While many computer and health innovations get honored, those in sustainability are often overlooked because they are hard to explain, and their impact has a very long time horizon. But without these, the future is at risk.”