Smith Wins PECASE Ben Smith, a physicist in APL-UW's Polar Science Center, has received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The announcment from President Obama was made on July 9th. Honored and excited by the announement, Smith said he had an idea that he had been nominated for the award when he was contacted by the President's Office of Science and Technology Policy last spring. "Someone at NASA nominated me, and the rest happened behind the scenes." Ben Smith joined APL-UW in 2007 as a postdoctoral researcher after having earned his PhD in geophysics from the University of Washington in 2005. In 2008 he was brought on as a Physicist and Principal Investigator in the Polar Science Center. He is working on a wariety of projects studying the processes that control the large glaciers that drain ice from Antarctica and Greenland into the ocean. And he's also on a science team that's advising NASA on the design of ICESat-2, a new satellite that will measure ice volume changes on the polar ice caps. The PECASE comes with up to 5 years of grant funding, which Ben will likely use to pursue some expanded science questions with the satellite design work. "These extraordinarily gifted young scientists and engineers represent the best in our country. 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." — President Barack Obama Press Release at Whitehouse.gov University of Washington Press Release