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BUSH NAMES 20 YOUNG SCIENTISTS, ENGINEERS TO RECEIVE AWARDS

President Bush 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).

For more information on CAREER and PECASE, see: http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/career/start.htm.

SOME OF THE 2002 PRESIDENTIAL EARLY CAREER AWARDS FOR SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS (PECASE) ONGOING ACHIEVEMENTS

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.

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.

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.

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.

Engineering:

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.

Mathematical and Physical Sciences:

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.

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.

SOME 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 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 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

• 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

NSF is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of nearly $5.58 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 40,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 11,000 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $200 million in professional and service contracts yearly.