Media contact:                                           October 24, 2000

Charles S. Drum                                           NSF PR 00-##

(703) 292-8070/cdrum@nsf.gov

 

Program contact:

Alison Flatau

(703) 292-8360/aflatau@nsf.gov

 

PRESIDENT HONORS TOP JUNIOR FACULTY

IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

 

     President Clinton today named 20 National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported researchers as recipients of the 2000 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The awards were presented at the White House Old Executive Office Building by the president’s science advisor, Neal Lane.

     The PECASE award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers who are in the early stages of establishing their independent research careers. This is the fifth year of the awards.

     Nine participating federal agencies shared 60 PECASE awards for 2000. The Clinton Administration established the awards in February 1996 to recognize some of the nation's finest junior scientists and engineers and to maintain U.S. leadership across the frontiers of scientific research.

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     “These awards acknowledge much more than past performance,” said NSF director Rita Colwell, “They represent our expectation that these women and men will continue to provide leadership in science, engineering and higher education well into the millennium.”

 

     NSF awardees have demonstrated a notable commitment to the integration of research and education. Since the White House established the award in 1996, 100 NSF-supported faculty members have received this presidential honor in such diverse fields as biophysics, mathematical modeling, transportation engineering and microeconomics.

 

     NSF selects its PECASE nominees from among its most meritorious CAREER (Faculty Early Career Development) awardees. The CAREER award supports exceptionally promising college and university junior faculty who are committed to the integration of research and education. CAREER awards range from $200,000 to $500,000 for a period of four to five years.

 

-NSF-

 

Attachment: List of NSF PECASE Award recipients

 

Editors: For further information, see: http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/pecase/start.htm http://www.nsf.gov/home/crssprgm/career/start.htm

 

 

NSF is an independent federal agency which supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, with an annual budget of about $4 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states, through grants to about 1,600 universities and institutions nationwide. Each year, NSF receives about 30,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 10,000 new funding awards.

 

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RECIPIENTS OF THE 2000 PRESIDENTIAL EARLY CAREER AWARD FOR SCIENTISTS AND ENGINEERS

 

The following are National Science Foundation-supported researchers receiving the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).

 

Sara C. Billey, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology - For outstanding research on the combinatorial structures of Schubert varieties, and for innovative ideas in exploring the changing roles of computers in mathematics and education.

 

Reinhold Blumel, Wesleyan University - For outstanding research in quantum and classical chaos using charged particle traps, and for innovative teaching and involvement of undergraduates in research.

 

Wilfredo Colón, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - For experimental and theoretical approaches to understanding the mechanism by which the amino-acid sequence of a protein determines its three-dimensional structure, and for mentoring undergraduate and high-school students.

 

John N. DuPont, Lehigh University - For initiating a highly interdisciplinary and collaborative research and education effort in solid freeform fabrication using Laser Engineered Net Shaping (LENS) processing.

 

Carl T. Friedrichs, College of William and Mary - For an exceptional interdisciplinary approach to understanding sediment dynamics and its impact on marine ecology, and his extensive experience with mentoring programs for undergraduates and high school students.

 

Theresa Gaasterland, Rockefeller University - For outstanding research on computer-based analysis of rapidly accumulating genomic data and for dedicated development of course materials for graduate students integrating computer science and biology.

 

Susan C. Hagness, University of Wisconsin-Madison - For outstanding technical expertise in the area of increasing data transfer rates over optical fiber communications systems and for her extensive outreach and educational activities.

 

Youssef Hashash, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign - For developing an integrated research and education project that addresses a novel interactive visualization development and learning environment for material constitutive relations, referred to as VizCoRe.

 

Scott M. Husson, Clemson University - For noteworthy contributions that will impact the development of a range of Molecularly Imprinted Polymer (MIP) surfaces and for developing an outstanding program for mathematics and science education.

 

 

 

 

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Edwin C. Kan, Cornell University - For design and fabrication of multi-element modules for logic and memory devices that will have major impact on a variety of fields, and for novel research trends that will enhance learning efficiency.

 

John David Kubiatowicz, University of California, Berkeley - For ground-breaking architectural research on extremely wide-area data storage and access as the basis required for pervasive and widely distributed network-based applications, and broad well-integrated educational contributions.

 

Alon Y. Levy, University of Washington - For development of theory and tools for flexible and effective construction, maintenance, and management of Web sites, and for outstanding dedication to graduate and undergraduate education.

 

Garrick E. Louis, University of Virginia - For developing a research and educational program in the area of integrated municipal sanitation systems which will impact the delivery of basic municipal services, both domestically and internationally.

 

Kwan-Liu Ma, University of California-Davis - For significant contributions to the areas of large data, parallel processing, human-computer interaction, and computational science, and his education plan emphasizing hands-on experience for graduate and undergraduate students.

 

David L. Patrick, Western Washington University - For creative research on liquid crystal imprinting with applications in rewritable memory storage devices controlled by optical, magnetic and electrical fields, and educational commitments.

 

Georgia Perakis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology - For outstanding research on the development of a theory for understanding the nature of traffic equilibria, and for her commitment to undergraduate and graduate education.

 

Anne S. Robinson, University of Delaware - For advances in human health research by improving the understanding of protein aggregation at the molecular level, and for education programs to prepare students for opportunities in biotechnology.

 

Jenny R. Saffran, University of Wisconsin-Madison - For outstanding contributions to the understanding of cognitive processes involved in language acquisition, and for creative ideas for integrating teaching and research in undergraduate education.

 

Arthur R. Smith, Ohio University - For outstanding research on Gallium Nitrate (GaN) surface structures, exposing the importance of wurtzite GaN polarity and enabling atomistic understanding of GaN crystal growth, and educational commitments.

 

Kimberley A. Venn, Macalester College - For an observational program on the new 8-10 meter class telescopes to determine the chemical composition of stars in nearby galaxies, and educational commitments.

 

-NSF-