Recently President Obama named nine academics as recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. Winners will receive their awards at a White House ceremony later this year. In addition, each winner receives a $25,000 grant from the National Science Foundation which can be used to aid their mentoring activities.
Two of the nine individuals honored are women. Both are professors at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
Peggy Cebe is a professor of physics at Tufts. She earned a Ph.D. in physics at Cornell University and conducted postdoctoral research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Karen Panetta is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Tufts. She is a graduate of Boston University and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Northeastern University.
I am so proud of Karen. She has worked very hard for a very long time, and always been supportive of other women. She just finished a term as Chair of IEEE Women in Engineering Committee and has launched a program called Nerd Girls. It shows girls and women that you can be glamorous and wear cool clothes while designing and building a solar powered car or helping create a wind-power installation on Thatcher’s Island. We all need more role models like Karen.