Embargoed until 10 a.m. EDT
NSF PR 02-59 - July 12, 2002
President Bush Names 20 NSF-Supported Young Scientists
and Engineers for Awards
President Bush today honored 60 of the nation's best
young scientists and engineers with the 2001 Presidential
Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
The awards were presented at the White House to 20
National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported researchers,
and to 40 more scientists and engineers under programs
sponsored by other federal departments and agencies.
NSF is highly represented among the overall field
because of the agency's large role in fundamental
research among many science and engineering disciplines.
NSF's nominees for PECASE are drawn from junior faculty
members receiving grants from NSF's CAREER program,
considered the agency's most prestigious for new faculty
members. CAREER participants are promising young researchers
in science and engineering fields who have also translated
their work into significant education activities.
NSF provides significant monetary awards, which range
from $200,000 to more than $700,000 over five years,
to support the career development of these teacher-scholars
who are most likely to become the academic leaders
of the 21st Century.
"These young scientific leaders are pushing frontiers,
communicating their unique knowledge to students and
setting standards we all should emulate," NSF Director
Rita Colwell said. "They have done ground-breaking
work in sophisticated fields such as tissue engineering,
smart materials, nanoscale electronic devices and
polymers and DNA computing. A century ago, Nobel Prizes
honored discoveries such as the X-ray and serum therapy
for the highly contagious diphtheria. Today's awardees
will push advances in bold, new interdisciplinary
fields that seemed unimaginable only a short time
ago -- but will keep our nation at the forefront of
global innovation and make the world a better place
in the 21st century."
Of the 20 NSF-supported PECASE recipients, seven are
women and five are from underrepresented groups. They
represent the best of the nearly 400 NSF CAREER program
grant recipients in 2001. Just over 2,500 CAREER awards
have been made since the program began in 1996.
With today's White House presentation, there are now
100 NSF-supported PECASE recipients among the 300
honored government-wide since the start of the award.
NSF honorees under PECASE receive no additional money
beyond their initial CAREER grants, but the presidential
recognition carries significant prestige, and recipients
represent the best among young researchers and educators
from the CAREER program.
For more information, see: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/06/20020626-3.html
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: Summary of
achievements of NSF-supported 2001 PECASE recipients.
Attachment
Achievements of the NSF-Nominated 2001 PECASE Recipients
Dr. Philip John Bart, Assistant Professor
at Louisiana State University, leads new studies in
gathering and deciphering high-resolution seismic
records of glacial deposits. The research is adding
greatly to understanding the reasoning behind the
advance and retreat of the Antarctic ice sheet during
the recent geologic past. Bart innovatively integrates
his research into both university and secondary school
science teaching, serving as a role model for minority
students.
Dr. Karen Jane Burg, Assistant Professor
at Clemson University, has established a nationally
recognized and innovative research program in breast
tissue engineering for cancer patients, with the potential
for widespread medical uses in areas such as liver
repair, cartilage replacement and other conditions.
Burg's K-12 educational awareness programs and outreach
activities in bioengineering promote critical thinking
in this growing field.
Dr. Brian David Conrad, Assistant
Professor at the University of Michigan, is a leading
theoretical research mathematician in the study of
elliptical curves and is also at the forefront of
study in arithmetic algebraic geometry and number
theory. His excellence as an advisor has brought scholarships
and awards for high school students and undergraduates,
and his informal activities include creating high
school and undergraduate mathematics clubs, and judging
national and international-level science fairs.
Dr. Steven Andrew Cummer, Assistant
Professor at Duke University, is developing an innovative
technique for remote sensing of the least-explored
upper regions of the atmosphere, using electromagnetic
radiation from lightning to determine this region's
variability and its connections to other atmospheric
regions and climate. He is using this knowledge to
develop an electromagnetics curriculum for the classroom
and for graduate and undergraduate student training.
Dr. Elizabeth Anna Davis, Assistant
Professor at the University of Michigan, is undertaking
important research on how teachers, in the crucial
first years of their professional experience, learn
how to teach inquiry-based science using a supportive,
technology-mediated learning environment that identifies
the links between the teachers' learning, their practice
of teaching, and students' learning. She is developing
an integrated instructional resource, CASES, to help
new teachers make sense of complex ideas about science
teaching.
Dr. Reginald DesRoches, Assistant
Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology,
is conducting exceptional research in the use of "smart"
materials, such as shape memory alloy technology for
civil infrastructures to make them more seismic resistant
and better able to dissipate energy in the case of
earthquakes and other environmental exposure. His
integrated education activities include hands-on research
in civil engineering and international and industrial
participation.
Dr. Douglas John Emlen, Assistant
Professor at the University of Montana, leads an area
of research that integrates developmental biology,
behavior, genetics and evolution to clarify a fundamental
biological question about how developmental and physiological
constraints affect the evolution of extreme shapes
in animals. Emlen also develops wide-ranging research
experiences and courses in evolution for undergraduate
students.
Dr. Michael C. Fitzgerald, Assistant
Professor at Duke University, is researching molecular
interactions that drive protein folding processes.
He is developing a new mass spectrometry-based method
to examine proteins that is expected to lead to more
dramatic results in the study of complex binding interactions
between multiple proteins and DNA. His well-thought-out
plan to provide summer workshops for high school science
teachers has received support from many area school
principals.
Dr. Charles Forbes Gammie, Assistant
Professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign,
is a leading young researcher in astrophysics whose
work is focused on building computer codes able to
calculate the energy released when hot gas is pulled
around black holes, which may eventually explain the
enormous but unexplained energy of quasars. His "digital
demo room," developed for undergraduate students,
provides multi-level knowledge of numerical modeling
in stellar evolution, supernovae and galactic structure.
Dr. Javier Garcia-Frias, Assistant
Professor at the University of Delaware, is doing
advanced research on iterative decoding techniques
applied to communication channels with memory -- such
as wireless -- that have potential to greatly benefit
communications systems design, requiring a lessening
of power requirements for transmitters and better
use of available bandwith. His organized research
experiences for advanced undergraduates, and his modernization
of graduate course offerings, is attracting more students
into electrical engineering and information sciences.
Dr. Richard Brent Gillespie, Assistant
Professor at the University of Michigan, is doing
groundbreaking research on haptic (touch exploration)
devices that emulate the ability of humans to feel
texture and other properties of objects. His work
has potential for automated modeling of virtual tools,
instruments and medical remote surgery techniques.
He promotes expertise in his field by developing undergraduate
and graduate courses with hands-on tools for teaching
system dynamics and human-machine interaction.
Dr. Satyandra Kumar Gupta, Assistant
Professor at the University of Maryland in College
Park, is a leader in research that is influencing
the future development of computer -aided design and
manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems for multi-piece molds
that will allow for many new product-based developments.
His outreach to introduce high school students to
CAD/CAM techniques, and his college-level curriculum
that includes the study of geometric reasoning algorithms
for mechanical engineering students is expected to
expand this specific field to a new generation of
engineers.
Dr. C. Allan Guymon, Assistant Professor
at the University of Southern Mississippi, is contributing
outstanding research in photopolymer kinetics to predict
and control the nanostructure of liquid crystalline
systems, creating new possibilities for the polymer
industry. He is bringing polymer science concepts
to rural public high schools, especially to areas
where there are large numbers of underrepresented
students, incorporating a modified teaching module
for introductory chemistry courses at community colleges
and universities.
Dr. Sheena Sethi Iyengar, Assistant
Professor at Columbia University, is undertaking groundbreaking
behavioral research studies on individual limits of
choice as they affect intrinsic motivation. Her work
is helping lead to a better understanding of how cultural,
individual, and situational dimensions of human decision-making
can be used to improve people's lives. Through seminars
and educational outreach, Iyengar teaches consumers
how to manage everyday decisions, and coaches corporate
leaders on developing innovative and feasible business
plans.
Dr. Veena Misra, Assistant Professor
at North Carolina State University, is conducting
noteworthy research to advance the development of
nanoscale electronic devices in an innovative vertical
format, decreasing the size and increasing the power
and efficiency of the next generation of silicon-based
components. She is developing an electrical engineering
course on vertical devices, instructional videotape
for high school students, and a "nano-chip kit" for
middle school students to introduce them to nanotechnology
concepts.
Dr. Christine Ortiz, Assistant Professor
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is conducting
creative materials research studies on nanoscale properties
of polymers inspired from nature that are bridging
the physical and biological sciences, thus meeting
the needs of new research priority areas in nanotechnology
and biomaterials. Her innovative outreach activities
include reaching high school teachers with a special
course on nano- and biomaterials, and creating interdisciplinary
undergraduate courses in biomaterials.
Dr. Mona Singh, Assistant Professor
at Princeton University, has introduced advanced computational
approaches to the prediction of protein function and
interaction at the genomic level that will have impact
in unraveling information about human and other genomes.
Through her own experience in computer science and
structural biology, she has pioneered interdisciplinary
courses at both introductory and graduate levels in
the growing field of bioinformatics, the method by
which computers are used to synthesize vast quantities
of raw biological data.
Linda K. Weavers, Assistant Professor
at Ohio State University, is conducting rigorous research
on advanced oxidation processes, especially on the
kinetics and destruction mechanisms of a wide range
of pollutants, which is expected to have value in
the destruction of chemical warfare agents. Her mentoring
programs for pre-high school and pre-college girls,
through her workshops, help students explore real
world facets of engineering, and are expected to increase
enrollments and retention of women in engineering.
Erik Winfree, Assistant Professor
at the California Institute of Technology, is leading
research in DNA computing, which he is redefining
by building the foundations of a new biomolecular
computer, the applications of which will be most felt
in nanotechnology, and also in physics by shedding
new light on the formation of quasi-crystals and the
controlled polymerization of biomolecules. Educationally,
he is recognized for creating a first-of-its-kind
course on synthetic and natural biomolecular computation,
and for his highly distinguished teaching skills.
Dr. Jorge Gabriel Zornberg, Assistant
Professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder,
is a leader in exploring new designs of efficient
covers for landfills and hazardous waste sites in
semi-arid climates, using a highly integrated approach
of theoretical studies, laboratory and field testing,
and numerical and physical modeling. Zornberg is deeply
involved in sharing his knowledge with high schools,
undergraduate and continuing education students, and
internationally through collaboration with a Brazilian
university.
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