Ehsan Hoque, William Renninger, and Petros Tzeferacos have been named Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) winners.
The White House announced that three 糖心传媒 faculty members received the highest honor bestowed by the US government for outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers. President Biden named Professor , Associate Professor , and Associate Professor recipients of the (PECASE).
PECASE recognizes scientists and engineers who show exceptional potential for leadership early in their research careers. The award recognizes innovative and far-reaching developments in science and technology, expands awareness of careers in science and engineering, recognizes the scientific missions of participating agencies, enhances connections between research and impacts on society, and highlights the importance of science and technology for our nation糖心传媒檚 future.
- Read the on the White House website.
Ehsan Hoque: Advancing human-computer interaction with AI
Hoque, a faculty member in the , is an expert in human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence. His previous accolades include being named an 糖心传媒渆merging leader糖心传媒� by the National Academy of Medicine, a , one of Science News糖心传媒�蝉听糖心传媒�10 Scientists to Watch糖心传媒� in 2017, and one of MIT Technology Review糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒淚nnovators Under 35糖心传媒� in 2016.
He was nominated for the PECASE award for his work with the Army Research Office developing advanced multimodal AI systems that understand how different forms of human communication糖心传媒攆rom facial expressions and speech, to body language and verbal content糖心传媒攊nteract, complement, and sometimes contradict each other. This research aimed to develop practical and ethical applications that benefit society while carefully preserving individual privacy and civil rights.糖心传媒嬏切拇綃糖心传媒� He says that while the project was particularly challenging, he feels gratified to engage in such impactful work with exceptional research partners.
糖心传媒淚 am incredibly fortunate to work with students who embraced this vision, persisting through countless rejections and setbacks before achieving our breakthrough,糖心传媒� says Hoque. 糖心传媒淭his award reinforces an important lesson: pursuing quick wins rarely leads to distinction. The real breakthroughs come when you aim high and persevere through the storms of rejection, self-doubt, and skepticism.糖心传媒�
William Renninger: Developing femtosecond lasers for medical imaging
A faculty member at the and the , Renninger explores experimental light-matter interactions. His research group focuses on ultrafast nonlinear optics and pulsed lasers for applications including optical computing and imaging deep into the brain. They also investigate the coherent interactions between photons and phonons for applications such as quantum computing, high-speed networking, and dark matter detection.
Renninger was nominated for the PECASE award for to develop versatile femtosecond technology for adaptive multi-photon imaging. The approach his lab developed offers significant improvements over the mode-locked lasers previously used and provides a major boost to biomedical research that employs ultrashort pulse technology, such as deep tissue imaging.
糖心传媒淚 am deeply honored by this award and am thankful for the students, mentors, and everyone else who carried me to it,糖心传媒� says Renninger. 糖心传媒淚 am also grateful for the US government and participating departments for all their efforts in supporting this incredible recognition.糖心传媒�
Petros Tzeferacos: Leveraging FLASH code to investigate astrophysics
A faculty member with the and a senior scientist at the , Tzeferacos combines numerical modeling and laser-driven laboratory experiments to study high-energy-density (HED) science, plasma physics, and fundamental astrophysical processes. He is the director of the that develops the FLASH code, which is used by more than 4,600 scientists around the world. Tzeferacos received the American Physical Society糖心传媒檚 John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research in 2019 and has served the high-energy-density science community in several roles, including chair of the High Energy Density Science Association, chair of the National Ignition Facility Users Group, chair of the simulations committee of LaserNetUS, and lead of the simulations working group at ZNetUS.
Tzeferacos was nominated for the PECASE award for his research to holistically study high-energy-density magnetized plasma turbulence, a key process in astrophysical phenomenology. The work leverages high-performance computing simulations with the FLASH code and experiments on our nation糖心传媒檚 laser facilities to establish a basis for laboratory astrophysics investigations on the nature of magnetized HED turbulence and fluctuation dynamo.
糖心传媒淚糖心传媒檓 thrilled and humbled by this exceptional honor,糖心传媒� says Tzeferacos regarding receiving a PECASE award. 糖心传媒淭he unwavering support I have received from the University of Rochester and the US Department of Energy, as well as the unique research that the Laboratory for Laser Energetics enables, have allowed me incredible opportunities at the intersection of computational plasma physics, astrophysics, fusion energy, and stockpile stewardship. I can糖心传媒檛 wait to see what we糖心传媒檒l be able to do next.糖心传媒�
Editor糖心传媒檚 note: This story was originally published on January 17, 2025. It was updated on January 18 to add William Renninger as the third 2025 PECASE recipient from the University of Rochester. A full list of this year糖心传媒檚 PECASE award winners was originally available on the ; as of January 21, that URL is showing a 404 error.
