Stevens professor receives Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers

The PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers

Stevens Institute of Technology Professor Nicholaus Parziale was recently selected as a recipient of the highly prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for his contributions to the study of high-speed boundary-layer physics, which refers to the physics of the thin layer of gas that surrounds a high-speed vehicle and has major implications for innovation in high-speed transportation.

In January of this year, President Biden recognized a group of nearly 400 scientists and engineers with the PECASE, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers early in their careers.

Parziale is the first faculty member Stevens to receive the PECASE award.

“We are so proud of the innovative and groundbreaking research that Professor Parziale does and so thrilled that he has achieved this well-deserved recognition,” Stevens President Nariman Farvardin said. “This prestigious honor, the first in the history of Stevens, will support his continued work to advance the science of aeronautics. Congratulations to Professor Parziale and his entire research team!”

Parziale’s award includes a $1 million grant, distributed over five years, to advance the understanding of high-speed fluid mechanics — the flow of gases and liquids — crucial to increasing the speed of airplane flights.

Today, it takes 16 hours to fly from Los Angeles to Melbourne on a conventional passenger plane. The Concorde, a supersonic plane no longer in service, could do this in six hours at twice the speed of sound. A hypersonic plane able to travel five to ten times the speed of sound can cover that distance in an hour.

“Our dream is to make the Concorde look slow,” Parziale said. “Our research has the potential to shrink the globe by enabling day trips to the other side of the world. We’re going to have so much fun in the lab.”

Parziale went on to share his appreciation for the support he had received from Stevens leadership as well as the government agencies he worked with on his PECASE proposal, including the Office of Naval Research and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the latter of which formally nominated him for the award in 2018. He also thanked his Ph.D. students who contributed to the research efforts.

“I am grateful for all the support and help I have received. These awards are made to a single person, but really, it is awarded to my whole group,” Parziale said. “And I am thrilled to have been awarded the PECASE, which is a truly once in a lifetime opportunity.”

Established in 1996, the PECASE aims to showcase and advance the research of early career scientists and engineers who show exceptional potential and outstanding promise. The award fosters visionary and innovative ideas in science and technology while strengthening connections between fundamental research and national developmental goals. The awards are conferred based on recommendations from participating federal agencies.