For nearly a decade, the Alan B. Slifka Foundation has partnered with INSAR to offer the Slifka-Ritvo Innovation in Autism Award. This Award promotes innovative autism research designed to catalyze novel treatments and improvements in quality of life, as well as transformative insights into etiology. This panel offers an opportunity to review the outcomes of these efforts, providing summaries from Slifka-Ritvo Award winners (from 2014 – 2016) of their projects and impact on subsequent research. Dr. Naples will summarize his project developing improved methods for studying the social neuroscience of autism across the spectrum, and where these efforts will lead next. Dr. Hoekstra will review findings regarding understanding and reporting on autism in Ethiopia, with implications for capturing the broader landscape of autism around the world. Dr. Shcheglovitov will share progress on the use of human-derived induced pluripotent stem cells into mouse models to better understand functional connectivity differences in autism. Dr. Libertus will present results of his efforts to remotely and cost-effectively assess early motor development in infants with high likelihood of developing autism. The Chair will lead an integrative discussion on the impact of these projects and implications for the future of autism research.