Mississippi State University is celebrating a groundbreaking achievement as Associate Professor Amy Dapper becomes the university’s first recipient of the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, or PECASE, the highest U.S. government award for early-career scientists and engineers.
The PECASE, established by President Clinton in 1996, honors individuals who show exceptional promise in leadership and research.
Dapper’s work in MSU’s Department of Biological Sciences places her among a select group of nearly 400 exceptional scientists from across the country, representing 14 federal agencies and top research institutions. She is recognized for her work supported by the National Science Foundation.
“I am incredibly honored to receive this award,” said Dapper. “It is amazing as an early career scientist to receive this type of recognition and affirmation that the research program I am building here is important and exciting. I am extremely grateful to the Department of Biological Sciences, the College of Arts and Sciences, and MSU for giving me a platform to build my independent research program. Science is not done in a vacuum and nothing in my lab would be possible without the super talented trainees that I am so lucky to mentor.”
Angus Dawe, head of the Department of Biological Sciences, said, “This is quite a remarkable award and incredible recognition for Dr. Dapper. Her work on understanding how genetic variation is maintained in populations really gets at fundamental questions of critical importance to our understanding of evolutionary processes. This is an amazing way to start 2025.”
PECASE recipients are selected from previous National Science Foundation CAREER award winners, recognizing outstanding scientists and engineers whose work is shaping the future through innovative research and its significant societal impact.
In 2022, Dapper, a native of Blacksburg, Virginia, received a $740,645 five-year NSF CAREER grant to research how traits associated with reproduction can shape patterns of genetic diversity within and between species.