Faculty members and alumni recognized by the White House for the Presidential Early Career Award

On Jan. 14, President Biden awarded nearly 400 scientists and engineers the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers. Among the awardees were six Vanderbilt faculty members and three alumni: Jessica Ancker, Erin Calipari, You Chen, Maithilee Kunda, Eric Tkaczyk, Steve Townsend, Lauren Brinkley-Rubenstein, MS'11, PhD'15, Rachel Carter, PhD'17, and Keersten Ricks, PhD'15.

"Vanderbilt is proud to celebrate our six faculty members and three alumni who have received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. This prestigious honor highlights their groundbreaking research and profound contributions across diverse fields, reflecting the spirit of innovation and collaboration that defines our university," said C. Cybele Raver, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Established by President Bill Clinton in 1996, PECASE honors scientists and engineers who show exceptional potential for leadership early in their research careers. The award recognizes innovative and far-reaching developments in science and technology, expands awareness of careers in science and engineering, recognizes the scientific missions of participating agencies, enhances connections between research and impacts on society, and highlights the importance of science and technology for our nation's future. To receive the award, researchers must have participated in federally funded research.

Meet the award winners:

Jessica Ancker is a professor of biomedical informatics and health policy and is vice chair for educational affairs in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Her research centers on the optimal use of information and information technology to improve decision-making, with a focus on health disparities and health equity.

Erin Calipari is an associate professor of pharmacology, director of the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research and principal investigator at The Calipari Lab. Through the lab, she uses cutting-edge techniques to outline the neural circuit dysfunction that underlies neuropsychiatric disease. Calipari's current research works to understand how drug use changes circuits in the brain that control motivation to give rise to the maladaptive behaviors associated with substance use disorders.

You Chen is an associate professor of biomedical informatics and an assistant professor of computer science. He is the director of the Optimization of Health ProcEsses and Networks Laboratory, which was established to address the growing need for care coordination research and development for the health information technology sector. He is also the co-director of the Health Information Privacy Laboratory.

Maithilee Kunda is an associate professor of computer science. Currently on research leave at the University of Edinburgh, Kunda's work is in AI and cognitive systems, examining how visual thinking contributes to learning and intelligent behavior. She is also a faculty member in Vanderbilt's Frist Center for Autism and Innovation, the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center and the Vanderbilt Data Science Institute. Her research focuses on advancing AI algorithms as well as exploring applications related to autism and neurodiversity, special education and STEM education.

Eric Tkaczyk is an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and electrical and computer engineering. He serves as the director of the Vanderbilt Dermatology Translational Research Clinic and is a staff physician at the VA. Tkaczyk is also a faculty member in the Vanderbilt Biophotonics Center and the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering. His work focuses on optical imaging systems for dermatological applications, especially noninvasive early detections.

Stevenson Professor of Chemistry Steven Townsend is also a professor of medicine, health and society, professor of pathology, microbiology and immunology and an expert in the chemical synthesis of biologically important molecules. His lab works on developing frontier strategies in organic synthesis that can be applied to solving problems related to human health. A major topic of interest for the lab is the synthesis of homogeneous human milk oligosaccharides and related constructs to investigate their use as prebiotics in infant formula.

In addition to the faculty members, Vanderbilt alumni Lauren Brinkley-Rubenstein, MS'11, PhD'15, Rachel Carter, PhD '17, and Keersten Ricks, PhD '15, were also recognized for the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Brinkley-Rubenstein is an associate professor in population health sciences at Duke University School of Medicine; Carter is a research engineer at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory; and Ricks is the deputy division chief of the Diagnostic Systems Division at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.