Twenty recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers have been announced for this year. The photo, shows of one those awardees, Eugene Billiot, with two students, working on molecular structures.

Awardees are chosen from 350 to 400 assistant professors who have received grants from NSF’s Faculty Early Career Program (CAREER) in the same year of their nomination for the president’s award. CAREER awards range from $400,000 to nearly $1 million over five years to support career research and education.

Winners include:

Suzie H. Pun of the University of Washington is involved in developing a new technology to allow efficient delivery of genetic material to the nuclei of non-dividing cells. The results of her research can have a widespread and significant impact on genetic engineering by enabling direct treatment of diseased cells and tissues. Her integrated research and education plans include summer science camps for eighth- and ninth-grade students and a job-shadowing program. These activities are expected to have a positive impact on middle-school students from underrepresented groups.

Janet M. Wang of the University of Arizona is carrying out research on innovative computer-aided methodologies for the design of very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits at the deep submicron level–that is, smaller than one- millionth of a meter. With increasing miniaturization and transistor sizes approaching atomic dimensions, such design issues have become a major challenge.

Michael S. Strano of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is addressing key technical challenges in the manipulation and control of carbon nanotube structures, thereby enabling new applications in a wide variety of sensors, including medical devices. He is developing interactive software models that will be tested on his campus and at a university having a large minority population.

Read more on all the award winners.