Argonne scientists, alumnus win honors

Two scientists at Argonne National Laboratory and an alumnus of the University are among the 58 recipients of the 2004 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the nation’s highest honor for professionals at the outset of their independent research careers.

Receiving the awards from Argonne were physicist John Arrington and computer scientist Robert Ross, who were nominated by the U.S. Department of Energy, and Dan Cziczo, nominated by the U.S. Department of Commerce, who received his Ph.D. in Geophysical Sciences from Chicago in 1999.

The University operates Argonne for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science and has been the lab’s research partner throughout Argonne’s history.

Arrington was recognized for his work in understanding the violent core of an atom, where some protons and neutrons move at more than half the speed of light.

Ross was honored for his research in data storage techniques that address the obstacles of getting data into and out of parallel computers fast enough to avoid severe bottlenecks.

Cziczo received his award for studies that analyze the relationship between climate change and aerosol-cloud interactions. Now at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Cziczo formerly worked as a research scientist in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers were established in 1996 to honor the most promising beginning researchers in the nation within their fields. Eight federal departments and agencies annually nominate scientists and engineers at the start of their careers whose work shows exceptional promise for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge during the 21st century.

Participating agencies award these beginning scientists and engineers up to five years of funding to further their research in support of critical government missions.