The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States federal government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. The White House, following recommendations from participating agencies, confers the awards annually. To be eligible for a Presidential Award, an individual must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident. Some of the winning scientists and engineers receive up to a five-year research grant.
History
In February 1996, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) was commissioned by President Bill Clinton to create an award program that would honor and support the achievements of young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers in the fields of science and technology. The stated aim of the award is to help maintain the leadership position of the United States in science.
Originally, 60 recipients received the PECASE award per year. In 2008, the number of awardees was increased to 100 annually. The 2002 PECASE awards were not announced until May 2004 due to bureaucratic delays within the Bush administration. The 2013 PECASE awards were announced in February 2016 after a 2-year delay.
The Trump administration announced the 2015, 2016, and 2017 awardees in 2019 with the awards presented by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Agencies
The agencies participating in the PECASE Awards program are:
- Department of Agriculture
- Department of Commerce
- Department of Defense
- Department of Energy
- Department of Education
- Department of Health and Human Services: National Institutes of Health
- Department of the Interior: United States Geological Survey
- Department of Transportation
- Department of Veterans Affairs
- Environmental Protection Agency
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- National Science Foundation
- Smithsonian Institution
- United States Intelligence Community
Recipients
1996
Following the creation of PECASE in February 1996, President Bill Clinton announced 60 recipients on December 16 of that year:
1997
On October 23, 1997, President Bill Clinton announced 60 recipients of the PECASE for that year:
1998
On February 10, 1999, President Bill Clinton announced the 60 recipients of the PECASE for 1998:
1999
On April 11, 2000, President Bill Clinton announced 59 recipients of the PECASE for 1999:
2000
On October 24, 2000, President Bill Clinton announced 58 recipients of the PECASE for 2000:
2001
On June 26, 2002, President George W. Bush announced 60 PECASE recipients for 2001:
2002
The 57 honorees in 2002:
2003
On September 9, 2004, President George W. Bush announced 57 honorees for 2003:
2004
On June 13, 2005, President George W. Bush announced 58 awardees for 2004:
2005
The 56 honorees for the year 2005:
2006
The 58 honorees for 2006:
2007
The 67 honorees for 2007:
2008
The 100 honorees for 2008:
2009
The 89 honorees for 2009:
2010
On September 26, 2011, President Obama honored 94 scientists:
2011
On July 23, 2012, President Obama presented 97 scientists with the award for 2011:
2012
On December 23, 2013, President Obama presented 102 scientists with the award for 2012:
2013
On February 18, 2016, President Obama presented 105 researchers with the award for 2013:
2014
On January 9, 2017, President Obama presented the 99 scientists with the award for 2014:
2015
2016
In February 2016, President Obama today named 105** 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 recipients for 2016 were*:
Department of Agriculture
Renee Arias, National Peanut Research Laboratory
Matthew Thompson, Rocky Mountain Research Station
Kenong Xu, Cornell University
Department of Commerce
Nathan Bacheler, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Adam Creuziger, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gijs de Boer, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and University of Colorado-Boulder
Tara Lovestead, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Andrew Ludlow, National Institute of Standards and Technology
James Thorson, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Department of Defense
Pieter Abbeel, University of California-Berkeley
Deji Akinwande, University of Texas-Austin
Jin-Hee Cho, US Army Research Laboratory
Sarah Cowie, University of Nevada-Reno
Dino Di Carlo, University of California-Los Angeles
Alon Gorodetsky, University of California-Irvine
Elad Harel, Northwestern University
Patrick Hopkins, University of Virginia
Anya Jones, University of Maryland
Colin Joye, Naval Research Laboratory
Lena Kourkoutis, Cornell University
Jennifer Miksis-Olds, Pennsylvania State University
Timothy Ombrello, Air Force Research Laboratory
Heather Pidcoke, US Army Institute of Surgical Research
James Rondinelli, Drexel University
Bozhi Tian, University of Chicago
Luke Zettlemoyer, University of Washington
Department of Education
Christopher Lemons, Peabody College of Vanderbilt University
Cynthia Puranik, University of Pittsburgh
Department of Energy
Tonio Buonassisi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Milind Kulkarni, Purdue University
Keji Lai, University of Texas-Austin
Paul Ohodnicki, Jr., National Energy Technology Laboratory
Michelle O'Malley, University of California, Santa Barbara
Matthias Schindler, University of South Carolina
Jonathan Simon, University of Chicago
Michael Stadler, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Melissa Teague, Idaho National Laboratory
William Tisdale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jonathan Hopkins, University of California, Los Angeles
Tammy Ma, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
David Mascareñas, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Department of Health and Human Services
Hillel Adesnik, University of California, Berkeley
Cheryl Broussard, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Samantha Brugmann, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Namandje Bumpus, Johns Hopkins University
Jacob Carr, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Kafui Dzirasa, Duke University
Camilla Forsberg, University of California, Santa Cruz
Tina Goldstein, University of Pittsburgh
Viviana Gradinaru, California Institute of Technology
Jordan Green, Johns Hopkins University
Katie Kindt, National Institutes of Health
Andre Larochelle, National Institutes of Health
Jennifer Lorvick, RTI International
Courtney Miller, The Scripps Research Institute
Kiran Musunuru, Harvard University
David Pagliarini, University of Wisconsin – Madison
Sachin Patel, Vanderbilt University
Amy Ralston, University of California Santa Cruz
Carrie Reed, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Ervin Sejdic, University of Pittsburgh
Elizabeth Skidmore, University of Pittsburgh
Kay Tye, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Muhammad Walji, The University of Texas School of Dentistry at Houston
Department of Interior
Richard Briggs, U.S. Geological Survey
Jeffrey Pigati, U.S. Geological Survey
Maureen Purcell, U.S. Geological Survey
Department of Veterans Affairs
Paul Marasco, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center
Panagiotis Roussos, James J. Peters VA Medical Center
Erika Wolf, VA Boston Healthcare System
Environmental Protection Agency
Rebecca Dodder, EPA
Alex Marten, EPA
Intelligence Community
Kregg Arms, National Security Agency
Nicole Bohannon, Central Intelligence Agency
Ashley Holt, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
Jon Kosloski, National Security Agency
David Loveall, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Whitney Nelson, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
James Benardini, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jin-Woo Han, NASA Ames Research Center
Michele Manuel, University of Florida
Andrew Molthan, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Colleen Mouw, Michigan Technological University
Vikram Shyam, NASA Glenn Research Center
National Science Foundation
Adam Abate, University of California at San Francisco
Marcel Agueros, Columbia University
Arezoo Ardekani, University of Notre Dame
Cullen Buie, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Erin Carlson, Indiana University
Antonius Dieker, Georgia Tech Research Corporation
Erika Edwards, Brown University
Julia Grigsby, Boston College
Todd Gureckis, New York University
Tessa Hill, University of California - Davis
Daniel Krashen, University of Georgia
Rahul Mangharam, University of Pennsylvania
David Masiello, University of Washington
Daniel McCloskey, College of Staten Island, City University of New York
Shwetak Patel, University of Washington
Aaron Roth, University of Pennsylvania
Sayeef Salahuddin, University of California, Berkeley
Jakita Thomas, Spelman College
Joachim Walther, University of Georgia
Kristen Wendell, University of Massachusetts-Boston
Benjamin Williams, University of California-Los Angeles
2017
On July 2, 2019, President Trump announced 315 recipients of the award, for the 2017 class:
2018
2019
2021
2025
See also
- Presidential Young Investigator Award
Notes
References
External links
- NIH Intramural Research Program Recipients of the PECASE Award
