Four NASA-funded researchers received Presidential Early Career for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) awards today at the White House.

These National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) awards represent the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers. The awards recognize recipients' exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge. The NSTC bestows the PECASE award only once during an individual's career.

"We are thrilled to honor these promising researchers, and we certainly will look to them to lead the way for NASA's future scientific and engineering endeavors," said NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe. "Encouraging young achievers is increasingly important, as we work to advance America's technology and science initiatives," Administrator O'Keefe said.

NASA recipients and their research proposals:

• Dr. J. Marshall Shepherd, research meteorologist and deputy project scientist for the Global Precipitation Measurement mission, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Investigation of Urban-Induced Precipitation Using Satellite- Based Remote Sensing and Numerical Modeling: Linking Land Use and Change to Variations in the Water Cycle.
  
  
• Dr. Mark Simons, associate professor of geophysics, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. Constraining Modes of Crustal Deformation Using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar.
  
  
• Dr. Eric R. Weeks, assistant professor, Department of Physics, Emory University, Atlanta. Confocal Microscopy of Colloidal Glass Transition.
  
  
• Dr. Thomas H. Zurbuchen, associate professor, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. Solar Wind Structure in the Inner Heliosphere: Rationale for the Location of the Sentinel Missions.