Two 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. 

Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena, associate professor and Goizueta Early Career Faculty Chair in the School of Materials Science and Engineering, and Josiah Hester, associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing, are among this year’s nearly 400 honorees.   

Correa-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. 

“I 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 — because this area of research is so important,” said Correa-Baena.  

Correa-Baena leads a solar energy materials research initiative for Georgia Tech’s Institute for Matter and Systems and the Strategic Energy Institute. He also has a secondary appointment in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry.  

“My career goal has always been to execute high-quality research,” he said. “Receiving 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.” 

Read more about Correa-Baena’s work. 

Hester said his nomination was based on the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program award he received in 2022 as an assistant professor at Northwestern University.  

“For me, I always thought this was an unachievable, unassailable type of thing because of the reputation of the folks in computing who’ve won previously,” Hester said. “It was always a far-reaching goal. I was shocked. It’s something you would never in a million years think you would win.” 

Hester 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 battery-free handheld gaming device. 

Last year, he co-authored an article published in the Association of Computing Machinery’s in-house journal, the Communications of the ACM, in which he coined the term “Internet of Batteryless Things.” 

Read more about Hester’s work. 

The 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. This year’s winners will be invited to visit the White House later this year.