President Obama Honors Outstanding Scientists

Obama: "It's Inspiring to See the Innovative Work Being Done by these Scientists and Engineers"

President Obama today named 94 researchers as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

The Presidential early career awards embody the high priority the Obama Administration places on producing outstanding scientists and engineers to advance the Nation’s goals, tackle grand challenges, and contribute to the American economy.

Sixteen Federal departments and agencies join together annually to nominate the most meritorious scientists and engineers whose early accomplishments show the greatest promise for assuring America’s preeminence in science and engineering and contributing to the awarding agencies' missions.

“It is inspiring to see the innovative work being done by these scientists and engineers as they ramp up their careers—careers that I know will be not only personally rewarding but also invaluable to the Nation,” President Obama said.

“That so many of them are also devoting time to mentoring and other forms of community service speaks volumes about their potential for leadership, not only as scientists but as model citizens.”

The awards, established by President Clinton in 1996, are coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President. Awardees are selected for their pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and their commitment to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, or community outreach.

This year’s recipients are:

Department of Agriculture
Dr. Laura L. Bellows, Colorado State University
Dr. Jonathan G. Lundgren, Agricultural Research Service
Dr. Samuel L. Zelinka, U.S. Forest Service

Department of Commerce
Dr. Jeffrey A. Fagan, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Dr. James A. Morris, Jr., National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Dr. Erin M. Oleson, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Dr. David E. Richardson, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Dr. Kartik A. Srinivasan, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Dr. Jacob M. Taylor, National Institute of Standards and Technology

Department of Defense
Dr. Michael S. Arnold, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Dr. Jeffrey W. Book, Naval Research Laboratory
Dr. Tad T. Brunye, U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center
Dr. Dirk R. Englund, Columbia University
Dr. Ali Khademhosseini, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital
Dr. Reuben H. Kraft, U.S. Army Research Laboratory
Dr. Tonghun Lee, Michigan State UniversityDr. Anne J. McNeil, University of Michigan
Dr. Aydogan Ozcan, University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Tomas A. Palacios, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dr. Sumita Pennathur, University of California, Santa Barbara
Dr. Kyle M. Shen, Cornell UniversityDr. Amit Singer, Princeton University
Dr. Stephen M. Spottswood, U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory
Dr. Joseph M. Teran, University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Lan Yang, Washington University in St. Louis

Department of Education

Dr. Roy Levy, Arizona State University

Department of Energy

Dr. Christian W. Bauer, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Dr. Greg Bronevetsky, Lawrence Livemore National Laboratory

Dr. Fotini Katopodes Chow, University of California, Berkeley

Dr. Carole Dabney-Smith, Miami University

Dr. David Erickson, Cornell University

Dr. Daniel C. Fredrickson, University of Wisconsin—Madison

Dr. Christiane Jablonowski, University of Michigan

Dr. Gang Logan Liu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Dr. Alysia D. Marino, University of Colorado at Boulder

Dr. Victoria J. Orphan, California Institute of Technology

Dr. Wei-Jun Qian, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Dr. Evgenya I. Simakov, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Dr. Feng Wang, University of California, Berkeley

Department of Health and Human Services

Dr. Rommie E. Amaro, University of California, Irvine
Dr. Sonja M. Best, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Dr. David T. Breault, Children's Hospital Boston

Dr. John S. Brownstein, Children's Hospital Boston

Dr. Brian S. Caffo, Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Nicola J. Camp, University of Utah

Dr. Pierre R. Comizzoli, Smithsonian Institution

Dr. Chyke A. Doubeni, University of Massachusetts Medical School

Dr. Jose C. Florez, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute

Dr. James L. Gulley, National Cancer Institute

Dr. W. Nicholas Haining, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Thomas L. Kash, University of North Carolina School of Medicine

Dr. John C. March, Cornell University

Dr. Katherine L. O'Brien, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Dr. Carla M. Pugh, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Dr. Jamie L. Renbarger, Indiana University

Dr. Sara L. Sawyer, University of Texas at Austin

Dr. Hari Shroff, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

Dr. Mary Jo Trepka, Florida International University

Dr. Linda E. Wilbrecht, University of California at San Francisco

Department of the Interior

Dr. Sasha C. Reed, U.S. Geological Survey

Dr. David R. Shelly, U.S. Geological Survey

Department of Transportation

Dr. Kristin C. Lewis, Volpe National Transportation Systems Center

Department of Veterans Affairs

Dr. Tanya Z. Fischer, Veterans Health Administration

Dr. Christine M. Freeman, Veterans Health Administration

Dr. B. Price Kerfoot, Veterans Health Administration and Harvard Medical School

Dr. Kristina M. Utzschneider, Veterans Health Administration and University of Washington

Environmental Protection Agency

Dr. Gayle S.W. Hagler, National Risk Management Research Laboratory

Dr. David M. Reif, National Center for Computational Toxicology

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Dr. Jonathan W. Cirtain, Marshall Space Flight Center

Dr. Ian M. Howat, The Ohio State University

Dr. Gregory G. Howes, University of Iowa

Dr. Benjamin A. Mazin, University of California, Santa Barbara

National Science Foundation

Dr. Katherine E. Aidala, Mount Holyoke College

Dr. Hatice Altug, Boston University

Dr. Amir S. Avestimehr, Cornell University

Dr. Joshua C. Bongard, University of Vermont

Dr. David J. Brumley, Carnegie Mellon University

Dr. Elizabeth S. Cochran, U.S. Geological Survey

Dr. Noah J. Cowan, Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Xiangfeng Duan, University of California, Los Angeles

Dr. Michael J. Escuti, North Carolina State University

Dr. Demetra C. Evangelou, Purdue University

Dr. Benjamin A. Garcia, Princeton University

Dr. Tina A. Grotzer, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Dr. Lasse Jensen, Pennsylvania State University

Dr. Benjamin Kerr, University of Washington

Dr. Benjamin L. Lev, Stanford University

Dr. Elena G. Litchman, Michigan State University

Dr. Yasamin C. Mostofi, University of New Mexico

Dr. Lilianne R. Mujica-Parodi, State University of New York at Stony Brook

Dr. Andre D. Taylor, Yale University

Dr. Claudia R. Valeggia, University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Maria G. Westdickenberg, Georgia Institute of Technology

Smithsonian Institution

Dr. Justin C. Kasper, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

Image courtesy of http://sciencewomen.blogspot.com.