Penn State Live - Two engineers receive NSF CAREER Awards

Two engineers receive NSF CAREER Awards

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Two Penn State engineering faculty have recently been named recipients of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award.

The prestigious NSF CAREER Awards provide five years of funding for researchers. They are designed to support junior faculty who have shown exceptional promise in teaching and research.

Adam D. Smith, assistant professor of computer science and engineering, received a $400,000 award for his project titled "Rigorous Foundations for Data Privacy."

Smith's research interests include cryptography, database privacy, information theory and quantum computing. His recent work has focused on protocols for handling noisy keys in cryptography, such as those based on biometrics, and on privacy-preserving techniques for publishing aggregate statistical data.

Matthew Parkinson, assistant professor of engineering design and mechanical engineering, received a $400,000 award for his project titled "Foundation of Designing for Human Variability."

Parkinson serves as the director of the Center for Research in Design and Innovation and the OPEN Design Lab. Parkinson's work combines rigorous design tools such as optimization, robust design and statistical modeling with human-centered fields such as ergonomics, human factors and biomechanics. His current efforts focus on the allocation of adjustability, vehicle safety and the development of adaptive medical devices.

These two most recent CAREER grants bring the total number awarded to Penn State faculty to nine since September. Of the nine, four were awarded to College of Engineering faculty.