News Briefs - General:

Twelve Women Are Among NSF-Supported PECASE Winners

The president has named 57 young government-supported scientists and engineers to receive the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest national honor for investigators in the early stages of promising research careers who have also displayed leadership in their fields.

Twelve women are among the honored group of 20 National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported researchers, along with 37 more from other federally-sponsored science and engineering programs, to receive a PECASE. John H. Marburger III, science advisor to the president and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy presented the awards in a ceremony at the White House Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

For the first time since the awards were initiated in 1996, a majority of NSF- supported PECASE honorees are women. They work in biology, engineering, physical sciences, computer sciences, behavioral sciences and education, and represent almost all scientific and engineering fields in the 2003 group.

"The unmistakable message is that women have arrived," said Arden Bement, NSF's acting director. "It is gratifying that we now see broadening opportunities for women becoming successes, not only in the labs and classrooms, but within the entire scientific community, and recognized publicly, as the president today has done," Bement said. "These women have added to the vastly growing numbers of success stories that scientists and engineers in the academic community bring us daily. They are a source of immense pride."

The honorees for the 2003 PECASE included six engineers: Treena Livingston of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Kara L. Nelson of the University of California, Berkeley, Erica L. Plambeck and Juan G. Santiago of Stanford University, Elisabeth Smela, University of Maryland, College Park and Harry Dankowicz of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

In the mathematical and physical sciences category, mathematicians Konstantina Trivisa, University of Maryland, College Park, and Ravi Vakil of Stanford University, received presidential honors, as did physicist Paola Barbara of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and chemist Daniel R. Gamelin, University of Washington, Seattle.

Three biologists were also honored: Kimmen Sjölander of the University of California, Berkeley, Carla Mattos, North Carolina State University, and Carla E. Caceres, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Three computer scientists, Cyrus Shahabi of the University of Southern California, Sandeep K. Shukla of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Yoky Matsuoka of Carnegie-Mellon University were honored today.

The president also named education researcher Roxanna A. Moreno of the University of New Mexico, behavioral scientist Jennifer S. Lerner of Carnegie- Mellon University, geologist Arjun M. Heimsath of Dartmouth University, and anthropologist Joseph Henrich of Emory University in Atlanta to receive the honor.

Six different federal departments, as well as NSF and NASA, sponsored the 57 recipients' research and education activities. NSF support of research in science and engineering covers the broadest range of fields. NSF's nominees are chosen from nearly 400 junior researchers and faculty members who have received grants from NSF's CAREER program in the same year.

Considered the agency's most prestigious award for new faculty members, CAREER awards honor the most promising young researchers in science and engineering fields who have translated their work into significant education activities. These young leaders receive monetary awards, ranging from $400,000 to nearly $1 million over five years to support their career research and education goals.

The awards bring to 160 the number of NSF-supported PECASE recipients since 1996.