Fennie

Tang

Cornell engineering faculty members Craig Fennie and Ao "Kevin" Tang are among this year's 96 winners of Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on early career science and engineering professionals.

Both researchers are being funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. Fennie, assistant professor of applied and engineering physics, works on designing new materials with targeted properties. One class of materials he studies is called multiferroic oxides, which have a spontaneous magnetism coupled with electric polarization, and which could prove useful in computer electronics.

Tang, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, researches control and optimization of large-scale engineering networks such as the Internet and power grids.

The awards, established by President Bill Clinton in 1996, are coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President. Awardees are selected for their pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and their commitment to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education or community outreach.