Press Release 04-063 President Bush Names 20 Promising, Young Scientists and Engineers to Receive Awards
May 4, 2004
ARLINGTON, Va.—Arlington, Va.-President Bush today honored 57 of the nation's
most promising young scientists and engineers with 2002
Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers
(PECASE).
John H. Marburger III, Science Advisor to the President and
Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy,
presented the awards at a White House ceremony in the Eisenhower
Executive Office Building to 20 National Science Foundation (NSF)
supported researchers and 37 other scientists and engineers
representing programs sponsored by eight other federal
departments and agencies.
NSF is an independent federal agency that supports a broad range
of fundamental science and engineering research, covering almost
all major disciplines, as well as education programs at all
levels in mathematics, science and engineering. Because of the
breadth of its fundamental research mission, NSF supports about
one-third of the PECASE awardees each year.
NSF's nominees for these presidential awards are drawn from
junior faculty members who have received grants from NSF's
Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program, considered the
agency's most important and prestigious awards for new faculty
members who show promise as leaders in science and engineering.
These scientists have also translated their work into significant
education activities. Nearly 400 young faculty members are
chosen each year for the CAREER awards, which range from $300,000
to more than $750,000 over five years. The awards support the
work and foster growth opportunities of those most likely to
become academic leaders.
The NSF-supported PECASE recipients represent a little over 5
percent of all CAREER awards made in 2002. Of the 2,900 CAREER
awards made since the program began in 1996, only 140 have
received presidential recognition.
PECASE honorees receive no additional NSF funds beyond their
initial CAREER grants, but the presidential recognition carries
significant prestige as recipients represent the best among young
researchers and educators from the CAREER program.
Other agencies that participate in the PECASE program include
NASA, Departments of Health and Human Services (National
Institutes of Health) Veterans Affairs, Defense, Energy,
Agriculture and Commerce (National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, and National Institute of Standards and
Technology).
-NSF-
For more information, see:
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/05-04-2004/0002166337&EDATE=
For more information on CAREER and PECASE, see:
http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/career/start.htm
http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/pecase/start.htm
ATTACHMENT
2002 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists & Engineers (PECASE) Ongoing Achievements
Biological Sciences:
Squire J. Booker, Pennsylvania State University, is at the
forefront of research on enzyme reactions, focusing particularly
on an enzyme involved in fatty acid synthesis. He uses
interdisciplinary approaches at the interface of physical
sciences and biology. His leadership in education includes
distinguished teaching and mentoring of undergraduates and
underserved minority students, and fostering diversity within and
beyond the academic community. |
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John R. Wakeley, Harvard University, has developed new methods
for analyzing the voluminous and rapidly growing DNA-sequencing
data, expected to be extremely valuable to both population
biologists and mathematicians in developing theories about the
genetic histories of populations. He shares this wider
understanding of genetics through development of textbooks and
web-based software. |
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Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering:
Amy Greenwald, Brown University, advanced a theory about how
automated software agents can make decisions in uncertain
environments such as online auctions. She recruits many young
women into computer science and effectively advises graduates and
undergraduates. She also serves an advisor to a summer outreach
program for ninth-grade students who gain hands-on computer
experience. |
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Babak Hassibi, California Institute of Technology, has made
fundamental contributions to the theory and design of data
transmission and reception schemes that will have a major impact
on new generations of high-performance wireless communications
systems. He has nurtured creativity in his undergraduate and
graduate students by involving them in research and inspiring
them to apply new approaches to communications problems. |
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George J. Pappas, University of Pennsylvania, has made
fundamental contributions to hybrid systems theory. His work is
leading to new understanding in the control of complex systems,
such as those found in avionics, automotive electronics, robotics
and medicine. His introduction of hybrid control concepts is
part of new curriculum that allows students to learn embedded
systems concepts at a renowned robotics lab. |
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Ion Stoica, University of California at Berkeley, has been
addressing difficult questions and formulating novel network
architectures to address quality of service and traffic
management on the Internet. By interweaving analytical and
experimental aspects of networking into unique hands-on
opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, he helps
enhance their understanding of novel concepts and encourages
careers in networking. |
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Education:
N. Sanjay Rebello, Kansas State University, studies how
undergraduate students learn to develop and test "mental models"
of how real world devices work and then determines how these
models evolve from instruction through testing of ideas,
including their transfer to other contexts. He is developing and
pilot-testing instruction materials for an application-based
introductory undergraduate physics course for architecture and
engineering students. |
|
Engineering:
Jennifer G. Becker, University of Maryland, College Park,
researches how certain types of microbial interactions occur in
chlorinated solvents, such as tetrachloroethene and
trichloroethene, considered the most common contaminants of
groundwater. Her research may contribute to new tools to help
predict effectiveness of bioaugmentation strategies. Her
education program includes a diverse hands-on learning experience
for pre-college students and mentoring activities for student
summertime research projects. |
|
Susmita Bose, Washington State University, is working on
innovative and multidisciplinary research on bioactive bone
implants, addressing critical issues from the synthesis of
materials (nanopowders) to the processing of various composites.
Her extensive hands-on activities for high school students,
involvement of undergraduates in the research effort and
interactions among various industries, undergraduates, high
school teachers and minority students highlight her education
program. |
|
J. Christian Gerdes, Stanford University, is developing a
framework for revolutionary collision avoidance systems, with
broad potential impact on highway driving safety. The research
has received significant interest from several automotive
companies. Gerdes has actively involved undergraduate students,
including outreach to underrepresented groups and involving them
in real-world research experiences and experiments. |
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Jason M. Haugh, North Carolina State University, is researching
the fundamental property that helps modulate cell function.
Potential implications of the research include creation of new
therapeutic strategies. His education program covers a range of
new graduate-level course materials, undergraduate lab modules
and a hands-on workshop for seventh-grade students - all relate
to cell functions in a research environment. |
|
Jionghua (Judy) Jin, University of Arizona, is a leading
researcher in analytically based methods that identify root
causes for and reduce variation in multi-stage manufacturing at
all stages of production. Her work could lead to a shift in
manufacturing process and quality control. Her education program
includes strong collaborations formed across disciplines, and
with industrial and international colleagues. |
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Mark Lewis, University of Michigan, has led research into
decision and queuing models of parallel processing in
manufacturing. His work may impact a host of manufacturing and
service enterprises where the scheduling of parallel resources is
needed over time. Lewis has worked to attract and retain
minority students in graduate engineering research programs,
including a graduate-level Minority Forum. He also serves as an
advisor for a campus undergraduate minority student support and
service organization. |
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Jia G. Lu, University of California - Irvine, has advanced the
frontiers of knowledge in spin electronics, considered to be the
defining concept of 21st-century electronics, by her work on
ultra-fast non-volatile electronics. Her work combines concepts
in faster, more reliable electronics with nanotechnology. She
transfers her research knowledge through education programs
emphasizing outreach to underrepresented groups and by involving
graduate, undergraduate and high-school students in physics,
materials science and nanoscience. |
|
Geosciences:
Julia Kubanek, Georgia Institute of Technology, works at the
interface of chemistry and ecology to investigate algal toxins
and the responses of the ocean's zooplankton to those chemicals.
She creatively applies and teaches the use of state-of-the-art
analytical tools in marine ecology. Her students receive
valuable training in interdisciplinary science and communication
methods, aimed at non-scientists, which bridge fields of science
and intersect research and policy. |
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Mathematical and Physical Sciences:
Ian Dell'Antonio, Brown University, is recognized for research
in using weak gravitational lensing of galaxies to map out the
three-dimensional distribution of dark matter in the universe,
and to explore the nature of recently discovered dark energy. He
is using the data to develop research projects for high-school
students from disadvantaged areas in Providence and to develop
laboratories for introductory astronomy students at the Brown
campus.
Robert W. Ghrist, University of Illinois, is a leading research
mathematician whose work has contributed to understanding
relationships between knot theory and dynamics. His research is
also opening new research areas in topological hydrodynamics, the
qualitative study of geometric patterns in fluid flow. He
combines mentoring across the graduate and undergraduate student
populations with an innovative "Mathematics Ambassador Lectures"
outreach program within the Atlanta city public school system. |
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Dan M. Stamper-Kurn, University of California at Berkeley, is
creating and applying new quantum states of matter to a variety
of problems in atomic and condensed matter physics. His work is
considered important to the demonstration of quantum phenomena in
general, and as potential tools for technological applications.
He is developing a collection of resources for in-class and web-
based inquiry in upper-division physics courses that will be
tested and available for broad distribution. |
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Brian M. Stoltz, California Institute of Technology, is
stimulating creative new research in synthetic organic chemistry
and he has led studies in the development of new stereoselective
organic reactions. He has established an innovative outreach
program with tutoring for middle-school students. He is
developing modular science kits for CalTech's Precollege Science
Initiative. His award-winning teaching is enhanced by his
development of undergraduate- and graduate-level courses. |
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Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences:
Thomas McDade, Northwestern University, is undertaking important
research that may ultimately improve child health through a
better understanding of the social and environmental factors that
affect the development of the human immune system. Students from
high school through graduate school will be able to obtain an
international experience in physical anthropology research
through McDade's research program in Bolivia. |
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OTHER AGENCY PECASE HONOREES:
Department of Defense:
- David Goldhaber-Gordon, Stanford University
- Hari C. Manoharan, Stanford University
- Michelle L. Pantoya, Texas Tech University
- Bridget Rogers, Vanderbilt University
- Enkatesh R. Saligrama, Boston University
- Gregory Neil Tew, University of Massachusetts
Department of Agriculture:
- Tara H. McHugh, Western Regional Research Center
- Mahfuzur Sarker, Oregon State University
- Therese M. Poland, Forest Service North Central Research Station
Department of Commerce:
- Andrew W. Bruckner, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
- Gabriel A. Vecchi, NOAA
- Jun Ye, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- Sae Woo Nam, NIST
Department of Health and Human Services: National Institutes of Health:
- Dana Boatman, Johns Hopkins University
- Susan K. Buchanan, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
- William Carlezon, Harvard Medical School
- David Cummings, School of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
- Kirk Deitsch, Weill Medical College, Cornell University
- Abby Dernburg, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Marilyn Diaz, Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
- Catherine Drennan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Andrew Griffin, National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders
- Valery I. Shestapalov, University of Miami School of Medicine
- Richard Walker, Oregon Health and Science University
Department of Energy:
- Jeffrey C. Blackmon, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Edmond Chow, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Sergei Maslov, Brookhaven National Laboratory
- Jonathan E. Menard, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
- Christine Orme, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
- Krishnakumar Garikipati, University of Michigan
- Carl Boehlert, Alfred University
Department of Veterans Affairs:
- Gary E. Bryson, West Haven Veterans Affairs Medical Center
- Richard Z. Lin, State University of New York at Stony Brook
National Aeronautics and Space Administration:
- J. Marshall Shepherd, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Goddard Space Flight Center
- Mark Simons, California Institute of Technology
- Eric R. Weeks, Emory University
- Thomas H. Zurbuchen, University of Michigan
Media Contacts
Bill Noxon, NSF (703) 292-7750 wnoxon@nsf.gov
Program Contacts
Joanne Tornow, NSF (703) 292-7134 jtornow@nsf.gov
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that
supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and
engineering, with an annual budget of $6.06 billion. NSF funds reach all 50
states through grants to over 1,900 universities and institutions. Each year,
NSF receives about 45,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes over
11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in
professional and service contracts yearly.
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