Susmita Bose (Photo: Courtesy, Patrick Ballou, NSF)

N. Sanjay Rebello. (Photo: Courtesy, Patrick Ballou, NSF)

Six persons of South Asian origin were among 57 of the nation’s most promising young scientists and engineers who were honored with the 2002 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) by President George Bush.

John H. Marburger III, science advisor to the President and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, presented the awards at a White House ceremony in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on May 4.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) supported researchers and 37 other scientists and engineers representing programs sponsored by eight other federal departments and agencies.

A spokesman for NSF told News India-Times that the 2002 awards were delayed due to the September 11, 2001 incidents and thereafter. The 2003 awards will be announced in July, he added.

NSF’s nominees for these presidential awards are drawn from junior faculty members who have received grants from NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program, considered the agency’s most important and prestigious awards for new faculty members who show promise as leaders in science and engineering. Nearly 400 young faculty members are chosen each year for the Career awards, which range from $300,000 to more than $750,000 over five years. The awards support the work and foster growth opportunities of those most likely to become academic leaders, a release said.

Other agencies that participate in the PECASE program include NASA, Departments of Health and Human Services (National Institutes of Health) Veterans Affairs, Defense, Energy, Agriculture and Commerce (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and National Institute of Standards and Technology).

The recipients of South Asian origin are N. Sanjay Rebello; Susmita Bose; Hari C. Manoharan; Venkatesh R. Saligrama; Krishnakumar Garikipati and Mahfuzur Sarker.

N. Sanjay Rebello, from Kansas State University, studies how undergraduate students learn to develop and test “mental models” of how real world devices work and then determines how these models evolve from instruction through testing of ideas, including their transfer to other contexts. He is developing and pilot-testing instruction materials for an application-based introductory undergraduate physics course for architecture and engineering students, a release said.

Susmita Bose, from Washington State University, is working on innovative and multidisciplinary research on bioactive bone implants, addressing critical issues from the synthesis of materials (nanopowders) to the processing of various composites.

Her extensive hands-on activities for high school students, involvement of undergraduates in the research effort and interactions among various industries, undergraduates, high school teachers and minority students highlight her education program.

Awardees from other departments were Hari C. Manoharan from Stanford University; Venkatesh R. Saligrama from Boston University; Krishnakumar Garikipati from University of Michigan and Mahfuzur Sarker from Oregon State University.