President Obama Honors Outstanding Early-Career Scientists

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 University
Dr. 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 University
Dr. 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