Professor Milind Kulkarni has been named by President Obama among 105 researchers as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. He will receive his award at a Washington, DC ceremony this spring.

“These early-career scientists are leading the way in our efforts to confront and understand challenges from climate change to our health and wellness,” President Obama said. “We congratulate these accomplished individuals and encourage them to continue to serve as an example of the incredible promise and ingenuity of the American people.”

Professor Kulkarni's work focuses on optimizing applications with complex behavior, called irregular applications. These applications are a crucial part of the Department of Energy's simulation infrastructure, and his work aims to help those applications scale to handle DOE workloads. Professor Kulkarni has been working with the DOE since 2012 on these projects.

The Presidential Early Career Awards highlight the key role that the Administration places in encouraging and accelerating American innovation to grow our economy and tackle our greatest challenges. This year’s recipients are employed or funded by the following departments and agencies: Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of the Interior, Department of Veterans Affairs, Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, and the Intelligence Community. These departments and agencies join together annually to nominate the most meritorious scientists and engineers whose early accomplishments show the greatest promise for assuring America’s preeminence in science and engineering and contributing to the awarding agencies' missions.

The awards, established by President Clinton in 1996, are coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President. Awardees are selected for their pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and their commitment to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, or community outreach.

Purdue news release

6 Indian-Americans among early-career scientists honoured by Barack Obama - The Economic Times

ECE Alum Sayeef Salahuddin received the award as well. Salahuddin, an Associate Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, received the honor for low-energy microprocessors for computers. He received his PhD from Purdue in 2007. (Bangladeshi engineer named for US Presidential Award)