The White House announced yesterday that MSE Associate Professor Ashwin Shahani has been named a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers.

Shahani’s award citation reads “for the development of state-of-the-art characterization tools for capturing materials evolution during processing in situ, his tenacious outreach efforts to underrepresented students in the state of Michigan, and his leadership in the materials science community."

Shahani's research group specializes in the application of advanced characterization methods (most notably laboratory- and synchrotron-based x-ray imaging and tomography) for the study of phase and structural transformations in a wide range of materials. His research has broad, technical impact on the manufacture of tailored microstructures via solidification and thermomechanical processing.

In addition to receiving the PECASE honor, Shahani has won AFOSR YIP (2017), ARO YIP (2018) and NSF CAREER (2019) awards.  

The PECASE
Established by President Clinton in 1996, PECASE recognizes scientists and engineers who show exceptional potential for leadership early in their research careers. The award recognizes innovative and far-reaching developments in science and technology, expands awareness of careers in science and engineering, recognizes the scientific missions of participating agencies, enhances connections between research and impacts on society, and highlights the importance of science and technology for our nation’s future.

This year, nearly 400 scientists and engineers from across the country received the award.