NSBE - January/February 2008 - (Page 19)

NSBE Protégés Receive White House Honor N By Siobhan Lef t wich SBE programs have been the training ground for some of the nation’s foremost African-American engineers. So, it comes as no surprise that two of this year’s Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) recipients are former NSBE members. Chekesha Liddell, Ph.D., an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Cornell University, and Elliot Moore II, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s (Georgia Tech’s) Savannah, Ga. campus, were among 20 PECASE winners selected by the National Science Dr. Chekesha liddell Foundation (NSF) in the 2006 competition. PECASE is the highest honor “I took my first class at Georgia Tech in matebestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and rials engineering,” says the native of Tallahassee, engineers who are just beginning their careers. Fla. “And I instantly fell in love with it.” The PECASE recipients were honored at the White Dr. Liddell says her career in engineering began House in November. when she was a child, the day her parents watched Dr. Liddell and Dr. Moore are both graduates her put together a puzzle on the family’s living of Georgia Tech and protégés of NSBE National room floor. Advisor Gary S. May, Ph.D., Steve W. Chaddick chair of the institute’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The two winners are among 440 scientists participating in the National Science Foundation’s Faculty Early Career Development Program (FACES). The PECASE program recognizes scien“I loved to put together huge jigsaw puzzles. tists and engineers who, according to Elizabeth From this, my parents somehow decided I had an VanderPutten, the chair of NSF’s career coordinataptitude for engineering,” she laughs. ing committee, “represent the best of the best of She began attending math and science sumyoung faculty.” mer prep programs during middle school and participated in MIT’s Minority Introduction to Puzzle-Solver Engineering and Science (MITES) program the Dr. Liddell, 31, has been interested in matesummer before her senior year in high school. But rials science since her undergraduate days at although she excelled in science and math, Dr. Georgia Tech. Her current research at Cornell Liddell was encouraged by her parents — who both focuses on engineering strong light-matter have graduate degrees in psychology — to be a interactions. www.nsbe.org Dr. Chekesha Liddell’s research at Cornell focuses on engineering strong light-matter interactions. Continued on page 20 • january/february 2008 • 19 http://www.nsbe.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NSBE - January/February 2008

NSBE - January/February 2008
Contents
The Pursuit of Excellence
Using Our Power
The Power of Belief
Saying It Well
Premier Profile: Owen Weston of U.S. Steel
NSBE Protégés Receive White House Honor
Regional News
International News
Fostering Competitiveness Through Innovation and Diversity
'Netting a Job
Why Graduate School?
NSBE Love
NSBE Calendar
"Igniting the Torch: Engineering in Action"
NSBE Golden Torch Awards
The AE Niche
Thinking Green
AE Members On the Move
CE Cover: Rough Road, Fun Ride
Join NSBE's Journey to Mars!
Advertisers Index

NSBE - January/February 2008