Obama Recognizes UCSB Faculty Members

Two young UCSB faculty members were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award, which will be presented to 94 people at the White House on 10/14, is the highest honor the country can bestow on a scientist or engineer at the beginning of his or her career. Selected were Benjamin Mazin, assistant professor in the Department of Physics, and Sumita Pennathur, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Mazin is working on ultra-sensitive low-temperature detector arrays to find Earth-like planets around nearby stars. Pennathur is developing a nanofluidic tool for protein transport and kinetic measurements.