MERCED - Shawn Newsam, an assistant professor in the School of
Engineering at the University of California, Merced, has been
selected for a prestigious award from the White House.
The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
(PECASE) is bestowed by the president’s Office of Science and
Technology Policy on young researchers who have accomplished
innovative research and community service. It is the highest honor
bestowed by the United States government on young scientists and
engineers, and Newsam is the first UC Merced faculty member to
receive it.
“We are delighted at this high-level national recognition of
Shawn Newsam’s innovative research and great accomplishments and
excited for the stature the award adds to our university,” said
Chancellor Steve Kang.
“Shawn’s work in computer vision lies at the very forefront of
research in this area, as recognized by this magnificent award,”
said Dean Jeff Wright of the UC Merced School of Engineering.
Newsam traveled to Washington, D.C. for today’s award ceremony
at the White House, where he was recognized for his
interdisciplinary research in knowledge discovery in complex data.
While a graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, he collaborated with
geographers to develop tools for analyzing satellite imagery and
with biologists to analyze microscope images of retinal detachment.
During a postdoctoral research appointment at Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory, he worked with physicists to analyze
large-scale computer simulations of physical phenomena and with
national security analysts on surveillance applications. At UC
Merced, Newsam is pursuing collaborative research with air
pollution scientists on using computer vision to monitor air
pollution in the Central Valley and with biologists on projects
studying the health effects of nanoparticles and analyzing computer
simulations of unstructured proteins.
The White House also recognized Newsam’s “leading role in
developing a new and innovative Computer Science and Engineering
program at the first American research university built in the 21st century.”
“I’m honored to receive this award, because it not only
recognizes my research, but also my role in establishing UC
Merced,” Newsam said.
“Not only is Shawn establishing a world-class research program
at UC Merced, but working tirelessly to build a remarkable new
educational experience for our students,” said Wright. “His work
with teams of students through our Engineering Projects in
Community Service (EPICS) program is helping students become fully
engaged on their engineering career path.”
Newsam is one of eight awardees nominated by the U.S. Department
of Energy. The seven others come from research institutions across
the country, including Cornell University, Columbia University, the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and several national
laboratories. All eight DOE PECASE recipients have the chance today
to display and explain their work in a poster session at the DOE headquarters.
The award includes a commitment from the DOE to underwrite
Newsam’s work with $50,000 annually for the next five years.
Newsam was nominated for the award by engineering colleague Moe
Dehghani at Livermore, where he completed a postdoctoral
appointment before joining the founding faculty at UC Merced in
2005. Dean Wright consulted on the nomination. Newsam obtained his
Ph.D. at UC Santa Barbara, his Master’s degree at UC Davis and his
undergraduate degree at UC Berkeley.
“Shawn’s work with us was groundbreaking,” said Dehghani. “We’re
pleased to see him moving on to a professorship at an institution
of growing prestige like UC Merced, and adding to that prestige by
winning awards like PECASE.”
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