As an immigrant “who has made lasting contributions to American society through extraordinary achievements in biomedical research and the arts and humanities,” Israeli-born designer and architect Neri Oxman has been selected as the 2014 Vilcek Prize in Design’s recipient.

With a strong belief that the “age of the machine” will ultimately give way to the “age of biology,” Oxman has dedicated much of her career to the advancement of Material Ecology, a field developed by Oxman that focuses on the “deeper, more scientific and precise relationship between the design object and its environment.” Her groundbreaking work, which has undoubtably caught the attention of the world, has empowered design research to collaborate across disciplines and seek solutions that could potentially transform the way we design and construct our world. The Mediated Matter group at the MIT Media Lab, also founded by Oxman, serves as a prime example of this. Here Oxman’s research spans across biology, computational design, materials science and digital fabrication.

Alongside Oxman, Dr. Thomas Jessell was awarded the Vilcek Prize in Biomedical Science. You can learn more about his work, as well as view the three Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Design winners here.

Oxman will be awarded $100,000 and a trophy, uniquely designed for each winner by Stefan Sagmeister. The Foundation will present the Vilcek Prizes in an award ceremony held early in spring, in New York City.