Daniel Goldman, associate professor in the Georgia Institute of Technology's School of Physics, has been selected for the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The award is considered the highest honor in the U.S. for professional researchers starting their careers in the fields of science of engineering. It aims to encourage the pursuit of research that will advance the Nation's goals and help to continue the U.S.'s global leadership.

"The honor means in part that the community recognizes the value of our research and approach. More importantly though, it reminds me that I have had an opportunity to work with fantastic students, collaborators and mentors,” said Goldman. “In a real sense I accept this honor on behalf of everyone who has contributed to the success of my program.”

As a part of the Complex Rheumatology and Biomechanics Lab (CRAB Lab), Goldman studies how organisms have adapted musculoskeletal and nervous systems in response to various terrains like grass, bark and sand. Through this work, the CRAB Lab aims to generate representative mathematical models that will help improve the locomotion for future generation of robots moving on these same terrains.

As a recipient of the PECASE Award, Goldman will attend the formal award ceremony in Washington DC in the spring and the CRAB Lab will be one of 102 researches honored with a certificate signed by President Barack Obama.

Goldman, who joined Georgia Tech from the University of California, Berkeley in 2006, received his PhD in Physics from the University of Texas at Austin in 2002 and his Bachelors of Science in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994.