Ajay Chawla delighted in exploring the mechanics of everyday objects from an early age. At first, he recalls, “I spent most of my time taking things apart and not putting them together.” This impulse served him well in school, where he was drawn to math and science, and…

Laura Johnston worked as a chemist at an oil refinery, a city council staffer, and a landscape and portrait artist before shifting her focus to biomedical research. Now, she seeks to understand how cells push and prod one another as an organism grows and develops. She has spent…