WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nine individuals and eight organizations were named recipients of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. The mentors will receive their awards at a White House ceremony later this year.
The Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, awarded by the White House to individuals and organizations, recognizes the crucial role that mentoring plays in the academic and personal development of students studying science and engineering, particularly those who belong to groups that are underrepresented in these fields.
“Through their commitment to education and innovation, these individuals and organizations are playing a crucial role in the development of our 21st century workforce,” President Obama said.
Candidates for the award are nominated by colleagues, administrators, and students in their home institutions. The mentoring can involve students at any grade level from elementary through graduate school. In addition to being honored at the White House, recipients receive awards of $25,000 from the National Science Foundation to advance their mentoring efforts. The mentors and organizations announced today represent the winners for 2010 and 2011.
Selected as a 2011 Mentor, Clemson University computer science professor Juan E. Gilbert was named a 2002 Emerging Scholar by Black Issues In Higher Education, the predecessor to Diverse.
Gilbert is chairman of the College of Engineering and Science’s Human-Centered Computing Division, which seeks to develop computing solutions to real-world problems and to understand how computer technologies affect society. His team conducts research into such applications as electronic voting, workforce development, voice-texting and instructional technologies.
“I’m humbled to have been selected for this award and very pleased for the recognition it gives the students in the Human-Centered Computing Division,” Gilbert said. “We take the ‘human-centered’ aspect of our work very seriously. It’s their achievement that is truly being honored here.”
2010
Solomon Bililign, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Greensboro, N.C.
Peggy Cebe, Tufts University, Medford, Mass.
Roy Clarke, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Amelito Enriquez, Cañada College, Redwood City, Calif.
Karen Panetta, Tufts University, Medford, Mass.
ACE Mentor Program of America, Stamford, Conn.
Ocean Discovery Institute, San Diego, Calif.
Women’s Health Science Program for High School Girls and Beyond, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Ill.
2011
Winston Anderson, Howard University, Washington, D.C.
Juan E. Gilbert, Clemson University, Clemson, S.C.
Shaik Jeelani, Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Ala.
Andrew Tsin, University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas
Camp Reach, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Mass.
Diversity Programs in Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
The Mathematical and Theoretical Biology Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz.
The Stanford Medical Youth Science Program, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
University of California San Francisco Science & Health Education Partnership High School Intern Program, San Francisco, Calif.
