Dr. Haiyan Wang, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in a ceremony today (Dec. 19) at the White House for her work with high-temperature superconductors.

Wang was among 67 of the nation’s best and brightest young scientists and engineers honored in a ceremony presided over by John H. Marburger III, science advisor to the president and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. She was among the 15 scholars nominated by the U.S. Department of Defense for the award, which is the highest honor for faculty members who are beginning their independent research careers.

To support he basic research, Wang and other DoD 2007 PECASE recipients will receive $200,000 a year for five years.

In 2007 Wang received a research grant awarded by the Air Force Research Office’s Young Investigator Research Program (YIP). Her three-year grant — part of a new $6.3 million program intended to encourage outstanding young science and engineering researchers to conduct basic research — to study the new superconductors, flat ribbons of metal coated with yttrium barium copper oxide. The new conductors are expected to be able to carry three to five times as much current than conventional power cables and do it at higher temperatures than earlier versions.

The new superconductors are important to development of new Air Force energy weapons and the U.S. Navy’s Electric Warships and Combat Vehicles programs. They also should make possible more-efficient and less-expensive power generators, high-frequency source magnets, transformers and electric motors, Wang said.

In 2008 Wang also received the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award for her research into multifunctional ceramic nanocomposites. The study will allow processing high-quality ceramic nanocomposites to meet the Navy’s needs on new structural materials for future ships and vehicles.

Wang joined the electrical and computer engineering department in January 2006. She is also a researcher in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Division of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station, the engineering research agency of the State of Texas and a member of The Texas A&M University System.

Before coming to Texas A&M, Wang was on the staff of the Los Alamos National Laboratory as a post-doctoral fellow and a permanent staff member. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Nanchang University (China) and a master’s degree from the Institute of Metal Research (China). She received the Ph.D. degree in materials science and engineering from North Carolina State University.

Wang’s research interests lie in the area of functional oxide and nitride thin films for microelectronics, optoelectronics, high-temperature superconductors, magnetic and structural applications. Her expertise is thin-film growth and structural characterizations.

The award, established by President Clinton in 1996, is the nation’s highest honor for scientists and engineers at the outset of their independent research careers. Eight federal departments and agencies join together annually to nominate the top young scientists and engineers for the PECASE who broadly advance the frontiers of science and technology to benefit the agencies’ missions.

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Written by Lesley V. Kriewald

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