Evan Morris

Evan Morris is an internationally recognized innovator and speaker passionate about the brain. A student at the University of Minnesota studying neuroscience and applied math, he has spent the past three years conducting neuromodulation research across the University, including at its Medical School, Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, and Veterinary Medical Center. His work uses optogenetics and sonogenetics to fine-tune brain therapies at scale in tiny worms he genetically engineers to model disease.

That work made him the first finalist in Regeneron ISEF history to receive two Top Awards in the same year: the Mary Sue Coleman Award for Life Science Innovation & Impact, and the Dudley R. Herschbach SIYSS Award, which names him a U.S. delegate to Nobel Week in Stockholm. He is also the first Minnesotan to win a Top Award. The same year he took first place in Cellular and Molecular Biology, after placing second in 2025. He is a co-founder of Dromos Partners, a private research consultancy that mentors a small number of exceptional students; its team holds numerous ISEF Top Awards and Grand Awards.

Today he works in Alik Widge's Translational NeuroEngineering Lab, where he is designing the clinical workflow for SERENE, an ARPA-H project that pairs low-intensity focused ultrasound with cognitive training to reduce suicidality. He is also an analyst at Atland Ventures, the nation's first student-owned venture capital firm, managed entirely by students, with more than $2 million in assets under management, and he is building Wego, a social networking app he founded at a 0-1 Startup Club hackathon.

He has been named a National STEM Champion and a Yale Young Global Scholar and was selected for Y Combinator Startup School. He belongs to Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society, the Minnesota Junior Academy of Science, and N-PNS, an interdisciplinary neuromodulation group at the University. He also serves as a judge and special award sponsor at state and regional science fairs. His journalism on climate and society has been recognized nationally, including by Best of SNO, and media coverage of his work has drawn hundreds of thousands of views.

Evan holds a first-degree black belt in taekwondo and has played competitive soccer since age 9, earning national recognition from id2; his high school team became the second in state history to win three consecutive state championships. As student body vice president he passed dozens of proposals, as Science Olympiad lab lead he guided the team to its best state placement and strongest season in nearly 20 years, and as Plant Club president he rewilded his school with its first pollinator garden.

At home, he cares for a GFP melanoid axolotl named Tenen and has bred four Anthurium hybrids of his own in a greenhouse he built at age 13. He loves traveling the world and immersing himself in unfamiliar environments, listening to audiobooks and lectures, and going on long runs.