Rensselaer Magazine Rensselaer Links
President's View Mail From The Archives Hawk Talk Class Notes Features
Front Page Features At Rensselaer Milestones
In Memoriam Making a Difference Staying Connected
Rensselaer's CAREER Award Winners
CAREER Award Winners
Young Guns Gallery:
Rensselaer’s CAREER Award Winners
A listing of Rensselaer’s CAREER Award winners by year, and a brief description of their research.
“CAREER Awards support exceptionally promising college and university junior faculty who are committed to the integration of research and education,” says NSF Director Rita Colwell. “We recognize these faculty members, new in their careers, as most likely to become the academic leaders of the 21st century.”

Each year as many as 1,800 applicants vie for approximately 350 of the coveted awards. The purpose of the program is to provide stable support at a sufficient level and duration to enable awardees to develop careers as outstanding teacher-scholars, says the NSF. Funds ranging up to $500,000 over four or five years are awarded on the basis of creative career-development plans that effectively integrate research and education.

At least one Rensselaer faculty member has been a winner each year since 1995, when the CAREER Award program was launched. Recently the numbers have been truly remarkable. In 2000, Rensselaer and Cornell University tied for the most award winners in New York state—with eight each. Those awards helped New York jump from fifth in the nation in 1999 to second place. New York’s total (40) was second only to California’s.

Twenty-five members of Rensselaer’s current faculty have been named winners. And, since awards are announced throughout the year, more may join their ranks before the NSF fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.

Hailing from China, Venezuela, India, Canada, Russia, Haiti, Poland, Finland, and, of course, the United States, these men and women bring a rich diversity of experience to Rensselaer’s laboratories and classrooms as well as professional contacts stretching around the globe.

The award winners possess outstanding academic credentials, with doctorates from many of the world’s most highly regarded institutions. They have won honors like the Fulbright and Alexander von Humboldt Fellowships. They have worked in world-renowned research facilities such as the Max Planck Institute in Germany, the Argonne National Laboratory, and Los Alamos.

And they are young. One winner had no trouble convincing the photographer that he was “just a grad student,” until someone set the record straight. Most were in their early to mid-30s when they won the award, but at least two were still in their 20s. Shekhar Garde received official news of his 2001 award on his 30th birthday. Spirited and passionate about their work, they are already making significant contributions to Rensselaer’s bid for world-class ranking.

Return

 Continue
Rensselaer Magazine: March 2002
President's View Your Mail From the Archives Hawk Talk Class Notes Features
Front Page At Rensselaer Milestones
In Memoriam Making a Difference Staying Connected
Rensselaer Home Page | RPInfo | AlumServ Home Page

 
Rensselaer (ISSN 0898-1442) is published in March, June, September, and December by the Office of Marketing and Media Relations.

  
Opinions expressed in these pages do not necessarily reflect the views of the editors or the policies of the Institute.
© 2002 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. All rights reserved worldwide.
  
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), 110 8th St., Troy, NY 12180. (518) 276-6000
 
Page designed by Marketing and Media Relations.
Contact Jane Van Ryan, Assistant Vice President of Communications.
Please direct technical questions regarding this site to rpinfo-support@rpi.edu.