Innovative, inspiring and highly knowledgeable, UCLA faculty members make a lasting impact in their classrooms and overarching fields of study. This January, four Bruin educators were honored with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), joining an exclusive group of approximately 400 distinguished scholars.
PECASE was created by former President Bill Clinton in 1996 and is the most prestigious distinction the United States government offers to scientists and engineers demonstrating extraordinary leadership skills in the beginning stages of their professions. The award not only celebrates breakthroughs in STEM, but also augments the public’s understanding of job paths related to technology. It reflects how research generates positive societal effects and that science plays a crucial role in securing national prosperity.
UCLA awardees include current instructors across various departments on campus. Learn more about their backgrounds, interests and courses below:
Dr. Elaheh Ahmadi
Dr. Elaheh Ahmadi is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, strengthening academic endeavors at the renowned UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. She received her doctoral degree from UC Santa Barbara and previously worked as an assistant professor at the University of Michigan.
This PECASE recipient specifically probes the development of semiconductor substances in optoelectronic and microelectromechanical systems. She examines the arrangement, production and characterization of band gap materials involved in high-frequency and power operations. She is part of a research group that aims to remedy obstacles posed by climate change and the modern digital age through developments in energy conservation and communication tools.
Ahmadi has accepted an array of other honors, such as the International Symposium on Compound Semiconductors Young Scientist Award in 2022, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Young Faculty Award in 2021, and the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award in 2020.
She has recently taught Electrical and Computer Engineering 221A and 221B, both of which analyze the physics of semiconductor devices.
Dr. Osvaldo Gutierrez
Dr. Osvaldo Gutierrez is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry within the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences and is the inaugural Hispanic Serving Institution STEM senior faculty director of the Chicano Studies Research Center. He was born in Mexico and grew up in Sacramento, California. Gutierrez spent his undergraduate years at UCLA and later held classes at the University of Maryland and Texas A&M University.
He specializes in the catalysis and synthesis transformations of both organic and inorganic compounds, seeking to reduce the cost of medicine through investigations of these scientific processes and components. His research group examines carbon bonds and organometallic reactions, which entail computational and spectroscopic methods.
Gutierrez was also awarded the Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences in 2020 and was recognized at the University of Chicago Rising Stars in Chemistry Symposium in 2015.
Dr. Justine Lee
Dr. Justine Lee is the Bernard G. Sarnat Endowed Chair in Craniofacial Biology at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. She was raised in Los Angeles and attended UCLA before pursuing graduate programs at the University of Chicago and finishing a combined residency in General Surgery and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. She presently participates in the American College of Surgeons and American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.
The decorated health professional aspires to improve therapeutic procedures for irregularities in patients’ head and neck areas due to congenital conditions, cancer or trauma. Lee particularly concentrates on syndromes impacting the skull and ears, and she highly values the aesthetic appeal in reconstruction processes. Through advanced research, she has made strides in craniofacial studies and has explored practices to alleviate bone deterioration with regeneration.
Lee was named in Los Angeles Magazine’s “Top Doctors” list in 2024 and earned the UCLA Plastic Surgery Faculty Teaching Award in 2016.
Dr. Mitchell Spearrin
Dr. Mitchell Spearrin is an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, joining Ahmadi at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. He completed his bachelor’s degree at Harvard University, subsequently receiving a Master of Science from the University of Southern California and a Doctor of Philosophy from Stanford University.
His intellectual interests cover gas dynamics and spectroscopy, including their relation to different energy systems. Spearrin’s laboratory intends to produce innovative laser-based sensor devices that examine different thermal-fluid structures. His analysis of extremely hot atmospheres connects to larger issues of rocket propulsion that modern science faces.
Spearrin was granted the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2017, and his successful findings from the last decade are published in a plethora of scholarly journals like Applied Optics, Shock Waves and Measurement Science and Technology.
With immense curiosity and determination, these UCLA instructors have memorably propelled progress in their fields and embodied the longstanding school value of excellence. Review their work to enhance your knowledge of their contributions, or conduct research of your own to continue the beloved Bruin legacy of learning.
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Featured Image: From left to right, collage of Elaheh Ahmadi, Justine Lee, Osvaldo Gutierrez and Mitchell Spearrin. Photo via UCLA Newsroom.
