Through the glass at Sherrerd Hall

Engineering faculty receive presidential early-career awards

By
Steven Schultz, Office of Engineering Communications
on July 3, 2019, 1:57 p.m.
Photo by
Brian Wilson, Office of Communications

Four faculty members of the School of Engineering and Applied Science(Link is external) have been named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their research careers.

The Princeton University recipients are: Amir Ali Ahmadi(Link is external), professor of operations research and financial engineering(Link is external); Arvind Narayanan(Link is external), associate professor of computer science(Link is external); Alejandro Rodriguez(Link is external), associate professor of electrical engineering(Link is external); and Jeffrey Thompson(Link is external), assistant professor of electrical engineering.

Ahmadi, Narayanan and Rodriguez were nominated for the award by the National Science Foundation. Thompson was nominated by the Department of Defense.

The award “acknowledges the contributions scientists and engineers have made to the advancement of science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and to community service as demonstrated by scientific leadership, public education and community outreach,” according to the White House.

Ahmadi, who also is associated with the Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics and the Center for Statistics and Machine Learning, works on areas of applied mathematics such as optimization, computational dynamics and control and computational complexity.

Narayanan, who also is affiliated with the Center for Information Technology Policy and the Bendheim Center for Finance, focuses on information privacy and security, as well as technology policy.

Rodriguez leads theoretical and computational research in the field of nanophotonics, the study of light in materials that have features at the scale of electromagnetic waves.

Thompson focuses on isolating individual atoms and ions and engineering strong interactions between them using particles of light, photons, that are confined to nanoscale optical structures.

Related Stories

Three Princeton scientists receive Presidential Award .

U.S. President Barack Obama has named three Princeton scientists as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the federal government on young professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

Blei, Freedman receive presidential science awards .

David Blei and Michael Freedman, two Princeton University computer scientists, have received the 2012 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their research careers. 

New rules illuminate how objects absorb and emit light .

Princeton researchers have uncovered new rules governing how objects absorb and emit light, fine-tuning scientists’ control over light and boosting research into next-generation solar and optical devices.

Princetonians win early-career presidential science awards .

The Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) are the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government for early-career scientists and engineers.

Four Princeton faculty receive presidential science awards .

Four Princeton University professors have received the 2013 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their research careers.

Houck, Shaevitz receive presidential awards .

U.S. President Barack Obama has named Princeton’s Andrew Houck and Joshua Shaevitz as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the federal government on young professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

Thompson wins New Horizons Prize in Physics for neutral-atom quantum computing .

The Breakthrough Prize Foundation announced that Jeff Thompson is one of six recipients honored for developing “optical tweezers to realize control of individual atoms,” useful in quantum computing.