US President Barack Obama has named 105 researchers as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, and a young Romanian researcher is among them.

Viviana Gradinaru, an assistant professor at the California Institute of Technology, was named to receive this award, which is the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

“These early-career scientists are leading the way in our efforts to confront and understand challenges from climate change to our health and wellness,” Obama said, cited in a statement from the White House.

The winners will receive their awards in a ceremony that will take place in Washington, this spring.

American President Bill Clinton established the awards in 1996. They are coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the President's Executive Office.

Viviana Gradinaru studied physics at the Bucharest University. She has completed her B.S. at Caltech and her Ph.D. research at Stanford University where she played an instrumental role in the early development and applications of optogenetics. During her postdoctoral work, also at Stanford, Gradinaru pioneered work towards a novel method for intact tissue mapping and phenotyping (known as CLARITY).

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Viviana Gradinaru on Linkedin)