White House: President honors outstanding early-career scientists


President Obama today named 100 beginning researchers as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on young professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.  The recipient scientists and engineers will receive their awards in the Fall at a White House ceremony.


 


The Presidential Early Career Awards embody the high priority the Administration places on producing outstanding scientists and engineers to advance the nation’s goals and contribute to all sectors of the economy.  Nine Federal departments and agencies join together annually to nominate the most meritorious young scientists and engineers—researchers whose early accomplishments show the greatest promise for strengthening America’s leadership in science and technology and contributing to the awarding agencies’ missions.


 


 


“These extraordinarily gifted young scientists and engineers represent the best in our country,” President Obama said.  “With their talent, creativity, and dedication, I am confident that they will lead their fields in new breakthroughs and discoveries and help us use science and technology to lift up our nation and our world.”


 


The awards, established by President Clinton in February 1996, are coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President. Awardees are selected on the basis of two criteria: Pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and a commitment to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, or community outreach. Winning scientists and engineers receive up to a five-year research grant to further their study in support of critical government missions. 


 


This year’s recipients are:


 


Department of Agriculture


David H. McNear Jr., University of Kentucky


Dean E. Pearson, Rocky Mt. Res. Station


Erica Spackman, Poultry Res. Lab/USDA


 


Department of Commerce


Craig Brown, National Institute of Standards and Technology


Michael C. Coniglio, National Severe Storms Laboratory


Dana H. Hanselman, Auke Bay Laboratory


Pamela L. Heinselman, National Severe Storms Laboratory


Dean DeLongchamp, National Institute of Standards and Technology


Till P. Rosenband, National Institute of Standards and Technology


 


Department of Defense


David P. Arnold, University of Florida


Seth R. Bank, University of Texas, Austin


Christopher W. Bielawski, University of Texas, Austin


Elizabeth Boon, Stony Brook University


Markus J. Buehler, Massachusetts Institute of Technology


Scott A. Craver, Binghamton University


John O. Dabiri, California Institute of Technology


Chris L. Dwyer, Duke University


Gregory S. Engel, University of Chicago


Thomas H. Epps III, University of Delaware


Gregory A. Fiete, University of Texas, Austin


Oliver Fringer, Stanford University


Anthony Grbic, University of Michigan


Carlos E. Guestrin, Carnegie Mellon University


Michael A. Hickner, Penn State University


Michael J. Hochberg, University of Washington


Yu Huang, University of California, Los Angeles


Gregory H. Huff, Texas A&M University


Jacob L. Jones, University of Florida


Sanjay Kumar, University of California, Berkeley


Xiaoqin Li, University of Texas, Austin


Mathew M. Maye, Syracuse University


Leigh S. McCue-Weil, Virginia Polytechnic University


Beverley J. McKeon, California Institute of Technology


Anastasia H. Muliana, Texas A&M University


Ryan P. O’Hayre, Colorado School of Mines


Jiwwong Park, Cornell University


Susan E.  Parks, Penn State University


Jason R. Petta, Princeton University


Justin K. Romberg, Georgia Institute of Technology


Adrienne D. Stiff-Roberts, Duke University


Benjamin R. tenOever, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine


Joel A. Tropp, California Institute of Technology


Derek H. Warner, Cornell University


Sharon M. Weiss, Vanderbilt University


Patrick J. Wolfe, Harvard University


Robert J. Wood, Harvard University


Tanya Zelevinsky, Columbia University


Jianglong Zhang, University of North Dakota


Xiaolin            Zheng, Stanford University


Rashid Zia, Brown University


 


Department of Education


Nonie K. Lesaux, Harvard University


Katherine A. Rawson, Kent State University


 


Department of Energy


Cecilia R. Aragon, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory


Gary A. Baker, Oak Ridge National Laboratory


Joshua A. Breslau, Princeton Plasma Physics


Gianluigi Ciovati, Thomas Jefferson Lab National Accelerator Facility


Stefan P. Gerhardt, Princeton Plasma Physics


Lynford L. Goddard, University of Illinois


Jason Graetz, Brookhaven National Laboratory


Jeffrey B. Neaton, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory


Thao D. Nguyen, Johns Hopkins University


Paul Sorensen, Brookhaven National Laboratory


Alexandre M. Tartakovsky, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory


Ivan Vitev, Los Alamos National Laboratory


 


Department of Veterans’ Affairs


Melina R. Kibbe, Jesse Brown VA


Alexander H. Sox-Harris, Palo Alto VA


 


National Aeronautics and Space Administration


Benjamin E. Smith, University of Washington


Joshua K. Willis, Jet Propulsion Laboratory


 


National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services


Thomas P. Cappola, University of Pennsylvania


Pablo A. Celnik, Johns Hopkins University


Felicia D. Goodrum, University of Arizona


Bruce J. Hinds III, University of Kentucky


Helen H. Lu, Columbia University


Ulrike Peters, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center


Jeremy F. Reiter, University of California, San Francisco


Marisa Roberto, The Scripps Research Institute


Erica O. Saphire, The Scripps Research Institute


Oscar E. Suman, Shriner’s Hospital, University of Texas


Kristin V. Tarbell, The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases


Gonzalo E. Torres, University of Pittsburgh


 


National Science Foundation


Maria M. Calbi, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale


Amy B. Cerato, University of Oklahoma


Ioannis Chasiotis, University of Illinois


Monica F. Cox, Purdue University


Cameron R. Currie, University of Wisconsin


Joel L. Dawson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology


Jimmy de la Torre, Rutgers University


Roland G. Fryer Jr., Harvard University


Sean Hallgren, Penn State University


John M. Herbert, Ohio State University


Steven D. Jacobsen, Northwestern University


Charles R. Keeton II, Rutgers University


Chun Ning Lau, University of California, Riverside


Hao Lin, Rutgers University


Harmit S. Malik, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center


Rada F. Mihalcea, University of North Texas


Scott R. Sheffield, Massachusetts Institute of Technology


Zuzanna S. Siwy, University of California, Irvine


Adam D. Smith, Penn State University


Joy K. Ward, University of Kansas