{"679685":{"#nid":"679685","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Faculty Members Earn Presidential Awards ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETwo Georgia Tech professors have earned the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on early-career engineers and scientists.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/baena.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EJuan-Pablo Correa-Baena\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor and Goizueta Early Career Faculty Chair in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, and \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/kamoamoa.space\/\u0022\u003EJosiah Hester\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov\/ostp\/news-updates\/2025\/01\/14\/president-biden-honors-nearly-400-federally-funded-early-career-scientists\/\u0022\u003Eare among this year\u2019s nearly 400 honorees\u003C\/a\u003E. \u202f\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECorrea-Baena is recognized for his solar cell and semiconductor research with the U.S. Department of Energy. His research group focuses on understanding the relationship between chemistry, crystallographic structure, and properties of new, low-cost semiconducting materials used for optical and electronic applications. His team also works on advanced techniques for characterizing these very small materials and their interactions.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI wanted to research something that would benefit society while also using chemistry, physics, and involved materials discovery to inform that. That is why I work on solar cells \u2014 because this area of research is so important,\u201d said Correa-Baena.\u202f\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECorrea-Baena leads a solar energy materials research initiative for Georgia Tech\u2019s\u202f\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/matter-systems.gatech.edu\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EInstitute for Matter and Systems\u003C\/a\u003E\u202fand the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/energy\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EStrategic Energy Institute\u003C\/a\u003E.\u202fHe also\u202fhas a secondary appointment in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry.\u202f\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMy career goal has always been to execute high-quality research,\u201d he said. \u201cReceiving this award is a testament to the work our lab is doing, my student and faculty collaborators at Georgia Tech, and simply being in the right place at the right time.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.mse.gatech.edu\/news\/juan-pablo-correa-baena-named-pecase-recipient-president-biden\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ERead more about Correa-Baena\u2019s work.\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHester said his nomination was based on the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.mccormick.northwestern.edu\/news\/articles\/2022\/02\/josiah-hester-receives-prestigious-nsf-career-award\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ENational Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program\u003C\/a\u003E award he received in 2022 as an assistant professor at Northwestern University.\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFor me, I always thought this was an unachievable, unassailable type of thing because of the reputation of the folks in computing who\u2019ve won previously,\u201d Hester said. \u201cIt was always a far-reaching goal. I was shocked. It\u2019s something you would never in a million years think you would win.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHester is known for pioneering research in a new subfield of sustainable computing dedicated to creating battery-free devices powered by solar energy, kinetic energy, and radio waves. He co-led a team that developed the first \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.mccormick.northwestern.edu\/magazine\/spring-2021\/future-played-without-batteries\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Ebattery-free handheld gaming device\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELast year, he co-authored an \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cacm.acm.org\/research\/the-internet-of-batteryless-things\/\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Earticle published\u003C\/a\u003E in the Association of Computing Machinery\u2019s in-house journal, the \u003Cem\u003ECommunications of the ACM\u003C\/em\u003E, in which he coined the term \u201cInternet of Batteryless Things.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/biden-administration-names-interactive-computing-researcher-pecase-recipient\u0022 rel=\u0022noreferrer noopener\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ERead more about Hester\u2019s work.\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers was established by President Bill Clinton in 1996. It honors individuals for their contributions to science and technology and promotes awareness of STEM careers. The award also supports the missions of participating agencies and strengthens the link between research and societal impact.\u202fThis year\u2019s winners will be invited to visit the White House later this year.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EJuan-Pablo Correa-Baena and Josiah Hester are among this year\u2019s winners of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena and Josiah Hester are among this year\u2019s winners of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2025-01-16 22:59:17","changed_gmt":"2025-01-23 13:45:00","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-01-16T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-01-16T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676050":{"id":"676050","type":"image","title":"Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena and Josiah Hester","body":"\u003Cp\u003EJuan-Pablo Correa-Baena and Josiah Hester\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1737068751","gmt_created":"2025-01-16 23:05:51","changed":"1737068751","gmt_changed":"2025-01-16 23:05:51","alt":"Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena and Josiah Hester","file":{"fid":"259754","name":"PCASEwinners.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/01\/16\/PCASEwinners.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/01\/16\/PCASEwinners.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":786499,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/01\/16\/PCASEwinners.jpg?itok=wEkg5-D0"}}},"media_ids":["676050"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov\/ostp\/news-updates\/2025\/01\/14\/president-biden-honors-nearly-400-federally-funded-early-career-scientists\/","title":"President Biden Honors Nearly 400 Federally Funded Early-Career Scientists "}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}