Justin Romberg, assistant professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), has been named a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the nation's highest honor for professionals at the outset of their independent scientific research careers.

Romberg is among 100 recipients of this award, who were named by President Barack Obama on July 9. The honorees will receive their awards this fall at a White House ceremony. Established in 1996, PECASE honors the most promising researchers in the nation within their fields. Nine federal departments and agencies join together annually to nominate the most meritorious young scientists and engineers-researchers whose early accomplishments show the greatest promise for strengthening America's leadership in science and technology while contributing to the awarding agencies' missions. "I am truly honored to receive this award," Romberg said. "I feel blessed for the education and mentoring I received at Rice University and Caltech and for the support which Georgia Tech has given me as a faculty member." Awarded an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award last summer, Justin was nominated for the PECASE award by the U.S. Department of Defense. He was one of 27 investigators selected for the ONR Young Investigator Awards last year from a group of more than 200 applicants. Funding for Justin's ONR award lasts for three years and will fund his project, "Compressive Sampling for Next-Generation Data Acquisition." Justin's research focuses on the mathematics of data acquisition. In particular, he is interested in ways in which randomness can actually help in data acquisition, potentially reducing both the cost and the computational complexity of high-resolution sensing systems. This work will influence the design of next-generation analog-to-digital converters, radar imaging platforms and MRI systems. Justin becomes the sixth PECASE winner from ECE, joining PECASE alumni Elliot Moore, Ali Adibi, David Anderson, David Citrin and Steve McLaughlin.