University of Chicago chemist Greg Engel was among the scientists and engineers whom President Obama recently honored at the White House.
"In his remarks, President Obama painted a bright future for science and science education as a path to reinvigorate the economy and to improve society," said Engel, an Assistant Professor in Chemistry. "He was especially encouraging of young scientists and promised to continue to fund ground-breaking research."
Engel earned the White House visit as a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The award is the highest honor that the U.S. Government bestows upon scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers.
The Air Force Office of Scientific Research nominated Engel for his $1 million award, provided by the Department of Defense. Engel, who discovered wavelike (quantum) energy transport in photosynthetic systems, will use the funding to develop new spectroscopies for the elucidation of quantum effects in biological systems and to implement these phenomena in synthetic systems.
-Steve Koppes