ObamaSix Indian-Americans are among a group of 106 scientists and engineers who will be honoured by US President Barack Obama with a prestigious award, the highest US government prize for young independent researchers.

The Indian Americans selected for the Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers are Milind Kulkarni (Purdue University), Kiran Musunuru (Harvard University), Sachin Patel (Vanderbilt University Medical Centre), Vikram Shyam (NASA), Rahul Mangharam (University of Pennsylvania) and Shwetak Patel (University of Washington), according to a White House statement.

Milind Kulkarni’s research emphasises on Programming Languages and Compilers that support efficient programming and high performance on emerging complex architectures. Dr. Vikram Shyam, a technical innovation in fundamental aeronautics; at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, is among the six NASA scientists to receive this award. Rahul Mangharam from University of Pennsylvania was selected for inventing a new formal methodology to test and verify the correct working of medical device software. Dr. Kiran Musunuru, Assistant Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University and Associate Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, has developed a “genome editing” approach.

Established in 1996, the Presidential Early Career Awards emphasises the important role that the Administration places in encouraging and accelerating innovation to grow economy and to address various challenges.