Seven Beckman Young Investigators and Five Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellows Win Six-Month Bridge Funding Awards to Sustain Research Programs

Nearly $800,000 in Total Support Stabilizes Programs during Federal Funding Disruptions 

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation awarded a total of $784,476 to 12 Beckman researchers through its 2026 Beckman Bridge Funding Awards, an initiative developed to sustain ongoing research through transitional funding gaps.

The supplemental funding opportunity was open to Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellows in their final year of training, or one-year post-award, who are continuing research in their mentor lab or recently hired into academia. Additionally, the opportunity was open to Beckman Young Investigators in their final award year or No Cost Extension (NCE) period, or one to three years post-award, if they were continuing to work on Foundation-funded research.

"These researchers are tackling a broad range of problems with amazing creativity, doing work that is both important and innovative in new methods, processes and instrumentation," said Dr. Anne Hultgren, Executive Director of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. "This bridge funding program will help to sustain the momentum of these outstanding researchers and provide critical support to continue their high-impact research programs."

The following Beckman researchers will receive 2026 Beckman Bridge Funding Awards:

BECKMAN YOUNG INVESTIGATORS (alpha ordered by last name)

Margaret Byron, PhD
2021 Beckman Young Investigator
The Pennsylvania State University
Fluid dynamics of flexibility: deformable bio-structures for locomotion and sensing in complex flows

Katherine Davis, PhD
2021 Beckman Young Investigator
Emory University
X-rays shine light on the synergy between metalloenzyme structure and electronics

Tania Lupoli, PhD
2021 Beckman Young Investigator
New York University
Tuning glycosyltransferases to design synthetic bacterial cell surfaces

Brett McGuire, PhD
2021 Beckman Young Investigator
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Microwave Femtosecond Spectroscopy; Unlocking our View of the Molecular Universe

Alison Wendlandt, PhD
2021 Beckman Young Investigator
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Catalytic Tools to Edit Glycosidic Stereocenters: A radical approach to glycan synthesis

Balyn Zaro, PhD
2021 Beckman Young Investigator
University of California, San Francisco
Bacterial mimicry of mammalian 'don't eat me' signals

Yingjie Zhang, PhD
2021 Beckman Young Investigator
University of Illinois
3D Atomic Scale Spectromicroscopy of Liquid-Solid Interfaces

ARNOLD O. BECKMAN POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS (alpha ordered by last name)

Jaehyeok Jin, PhD
2022 Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow
Columbia University
Multiscale Phase-Field Modeling of Next-Generation Energy Storage Materials

Caitlin Randolph, PhD
2022 Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow
Purdue University
Microfluidics Assisted Mass Spectrometry based Artificially Intelligent Platform for Single Cell Lipidomics

Jonathan Schultz, PhD
2023 Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow
North Carolina Central University
Distinguishing Molecular Electronic Coupling Pathways by Combining Nonlinear Spectroscopy and Machine Learning

Jacob Spies, PhD
2022 Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow
University of California, Berkeley
Development of a Time-Resolved Solid-State High-Harmonic Generation Spectrometer for Probing Ultrafast Dynamics in Strongly Correlated Materials

Samuel Thompson, PhD
2022 Arnold O. Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow
Stanford University
Expanding the synthetic potential in protein engineering with proteins that fold and function in water-immiscible solvents

Bridge funding support is for six months. Awardees may be eligible to apply for a renewal if they continue to meet the requirements of the Beckman Bridge Funding Award. 

About the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation
Located in Irvine, California, the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation supports researchers and nonprofit research institutions in making the next generation of breakthroughs in chemistry and the life sciences. Founded in 1977 by 20^th century scientific instrumentation pioneer Dr. Arnold O. Beckman, the Foundation supports United States institutions and young scientists whose creative, high-risk, and interdisciplinary research will lead to innovations and new tools and methods for scientific discovery. For more information, visit beckman-foundation.org.

SOURCE Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation