Thirteen researchers with UC campuses and UC-managed national laboratories received Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers for 2011. The awards, named today (Sept. 26), are the highest honor the nation can bestow on a scientist or engineer at the beginning of his or her career.

Sixteen federal departments and agencies join together annually to nominate 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. 

The UC researchers, by campus or laboratory and nominating agency, include:

UC Berkeley

• Fotini Katopodes Chow (Department of Energy)
• Feng Wang (Department of Energy)

UC Irvine

• Rommie E. Amaro (Department of Health and Human Services) 

UCLA

• Xiangfeng Duan (National Science Foundation)
• Aydogan Ozcan (Department of Defense) 
• Joseph M. Teran (Department of Defense) 

UC Riverside

• Elizabeth S. Cochran (adjunct; also with U.S. Geological Survey; National Science Foundation)

UC San Francisco

• Linda E. Wilbrecht (Department of Health and Human Services)

UC Santa Barbara

• Sumita Pennathur (Department of Defense)
• Benjamin A. Mazin (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

Lawrence Berkeley Lab

• Christian W. Bauer (Department of Energy)

Lawrence Livermore Lab

• Greg Bronevetsky (Department of Energy)

Los Alamos National Lab

• Evgenya I. Simakov (Department of Energy)

The awards will be presented at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 14.