Two University of Florida engineering researchers are among 100 recipients of the nation's most prestigious awards for outstanding young scientists and engineers

Two University of Florida engineering researchers
are among 100 recipients of the nation's most prestigious awards for
outstanding young scientists and engineers.

David Arnold, assistant professor of electrical and computer
engineering, and Jacob Jones, assistant professor of materials science
and engineering, have received the Presidential Early Career Award for
Scientists and Engineers, or PECASE, award.

Each award comes with a five-year, $1 million research grant.

"I am thrilled that Dr. Arnold and Dr. Jones have been selected to
receive PECASE awards. Their selection says a lot about the quality of
their research and anticipated contributions to their fields," said
Cammy Abernathy, whose tenure as dean of the College of Engineering
begins on Friday.

Outgoing engineering Dean Pramod Khargonekar said, "These awards also
reflect well on the quality of our junior faculty hires over the last
few years and are a further confirmation of the strength, vitality, and
relevance of research programs in the College of Engineering."

The White House describes the award as the highest honor young
researchers can receive in the early part of their careers.

"These extraordinarily gifted young scientists and engineers represent
the best in our country," President Obama said in a White House press
release. "With their talent, creativity and dedication, I am confident
that they will lead their fields in new breakthroughs and discoveries
and help us use science and technology to lift up our nation and our
world."

Nine federal departments and agencies support the awards, each of which
comes with a five-year $1 million research grant.

Arnold came to UF in 2005 from the Georgia Institute of Technology,
where he was a postdoctoral fellow in the school of electrical and
computer engineering. He earned his doctorate from Georgia Tech in 2004.

His project, nominated by the Department of Defense's Army Research
Office, is titled "Development of Fully Integrated Micromagnetic
Actuator Technologies."

The goal is find new and better ways to easily make and use "magnetic
microsystems" - tiny devices that can act as switches, pumps, valves or
perform other functions - for industrial, medical, military and consumer
products. Applications, for example, may include small surveillance
airplanes known as micro air vehicles, tiny robots for medical or
surgical applications, and electronic devices for mobile phones.

"Our newfound ability for making tiny magnets opens a new world of
opportunities.  We hope to build 'mechanized microchips' to support
emerging high-tech concepts in a variety of scientific disciplines,"
Arnold said.

Jones came to UF in 2006 from the University of New South Wales in
Sydney, Australia, and Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, where he had
been serving as a National Science Foundation International Research
Fellow. He received his doctorate in 2004 from Purdue University.

Also nominated by the Army Research Office, Jones' project is titled
"Domain Wall Evolution in Phase Transforming Oxides."

Jones said his project focuses on smart materials. In this case, that
refers to materials that can convert energy from one form into another
form - for example, sound into electricity, or vice versa. Such
materials are key for advanced military applications in reconnaissance,
navigation, surveillance and in guidance systems, he said.

He said his work addresses a fundamental feature of smart materials
known as the domain wall, which refers to a break in the atomic
periodicity of the material, with the goal of improving overall smart
material systems.

"We are looking at how these domain walls influence the macroscopic
properties of these materials and investigating how we can put them into
unique positions and states that can enhance the properties of smart
materials."