10/1/2011 6:04:00 PM
Fastener Researcher Named Among 2011 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists & Engineers

The White House named a fastener researcher to a list of the country’s most promising researchers.  Samuel Zelinka, a researcher with the U.S.D.A.’s Forest Products Laboratory is among 94 recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers.
Zelinka, who earned a doctorate from University of Wisconsin in 2009, is a research materials engineer at the Forest Products Lab. He studies the corrosion of metals in wood and the way wood reacts to water, developing quicker ways to evaluate metal fasteners coexist with new preservatives used to treat wood (see FIN, July 18, 2011).

The Early Careers Awards program was established in 1996 to encourage the development of scientists and engineers. The directors of federal agencies select finalists, which are passed on to the White House.

The Early Career Award winners will attend a ceremony with President Barack Obama at the White House.