Please have a seat.

Welcome to the White House.

Today, I have the privilege to present our nation's

highest honor for scientific and technological

achievement -- the National Medals of Science, and the

National Medals of Technology and Innovation.

The amount of brainpower in this room right

now is astonishing.

(laughter)

But when you talk to these brilliant men and women,

it's clear the honor has not yet gone to their heads.

They still put their lab coats on

one arm at a time.

(laughter)

Joining us to celebrate these achievements are

members of Congress; Secretary of Energy Ernie

Moniz -- a pretty good scientist himself -- my

Science Advisor, John Holdren; the Director of the

National Science Foundation, France Còrdova; the Director

of the U.S.

Patent and Trademark Office, Michelle Lee; and Jim

Rathmann from the National Medals of Science and

Technology Foundation.

I want to thank them for all the work that they do each

year to help us organize and honor the scientists and

innovators in this great nation of ours.

Now, we are engaging in a lot of science and tinkering

here at the White House.

We've got Astronomy Night.

We got Hack-a-thons.

We got Code-a-thons.

We have Science Fairs, Maker Faires.

It is fun.

I love this stuff.

I get to test out some of the cool stuff that ends up

here in the White House.

At this year's Science Fair, one nine-year-old, named

Jacob Leggette, turned the tables on me and suggested

that we needed to start a kids' advisory group --

(laughter)

-- so that young people can help us understand what's

interesting to them when it comes to STEM education,

which I thought was a pretty good idea.

(laughter)

So, today, I can announce that we are launching a "Kid

Science Advisors" campaign for young scientists and

innovators to send in their suggestions for what we

should be doing to support science and technology, and

inspire the next generation of scientists and innovators.

So those young people out there who are listening, go

to our website -- we're going to be looking for some

advisors, some advice.

(laughter)

The real reason we do this, as I've said before, is to

teach our young people that it's not just the winner of

the Super Bowl or the NCAA tournament that deserves a

celebration; that we want the winners of science

fairs, we want those who have invented the products

and lifesaving medicines and are engineering our future

to be celebrated as well.

Because immersing young people in science, math,

engineering -- that's what's going to carry the American

spirit of innovation through the 21st century and beyond.

That's what the honorees who are here today represent.

Many of them came from humble or ordinary

beginnings, but along the way, someone or something

sparked their curiosity.

Someone bought them their first computer.

Someone introduced them to a lab.

A child in their lives needed specialized medical help.

And because they lived in an America that fosters

curiosity, and invests in education, and values

science as important to our progress, they were able to

find their calling and do extraordinary things.

So there are few better examples for our young

people to follow than the Americans that we honor today.

Just to take a couple of examples: Shirley Ann

Jackson, who is part of my science advisory group, grew

up right here in Washington, D.C. Hers was a quiet childhood.

Her first homemade experiment involved, I

understand, collecting and cataloging bumblebees in

her backyard.

(laughter)

Two events happened that would not only change our

country's course, but Shirley's.

In Brown v.

Board of Education, the Supreme Court handed down a

landmark decision that separate educational

facilities are inherently unequal, and the Soviets

launched Sputnik up in the sky, sparking a space race.

As Shirley put it, "Those two events in history

changed my life for good."

She went on to become the first African American to

earn a doctorate in physics from MIT, the second woman

to do so anywhere in America.

And over the years, Dr. Jackson has

revolutionized the way science informs public

policy from rethinking safety at our nuclear plants

to training a new generation of scientists and engineers

that looks more like the diverse and inclusive

America she loves.

Then you have Mark Humayan, who immigrated to the United

States with his family when he was nine years old.

When his diabetic grandmother lost her vision,

he began studying to become an ophthalmologist, hoping

he could save the sight of others.

Mark helped create the "Argus II," a "bionic eye"

that has restored vision to patients who've been blind

for up to 50 years.

He says the moment when he witnessed someone seeing

light and shapes, someone experiencing the miracle of

sight for the first time in decades -- those moments

have been some of the happiest and most rewarding

of his professional career.

In his words -- and I think no pun is intended -- "There

wasn't a dry eye in the operating room."

(laughter)

Growing up in Chicago, Mary-Claire King's dad would

sit with her in front of the TV for Cubs and

White Sox games --

(laughter)

-- and make up story problems for her to solve

about the players on the field.

She just thought that's how everyone watched baseball --

which explains why, when a college advisor encouraged

her to take a genetics course, she said, "I

couldn't believe anything could be so fun."

But every single American should be grateful for

Mary-Claire King's path.

We're glad that she thought it was fun because.

at a time when most scientists believed that

cancer was caused by viruses, she relentlessly

pursued her hunch that certain cancers were linked

to inherited genetic mutations.

This self-described "stubborn" scientist kept

going until she proved herself right.

Seventeen years of work later, Mary-Claire

discovered a single gene that predisposes women to

breast cancer.

And that discovery has empowered women and their

doctors with science to better understand the

choices that they make when it comes to their health and

their future.

So these are just three examples of the remarkable

stories that are represented here today.

They illustrate why this is such an extraordinary moment

to be a scientist in this country.

America's progress in science and technology has

countless revolutionary discoveries within our reach.

New materials designed atom by atom.

New forms of clean energy.

New breakthroughs in treating cancer and ending

the wait for organ transplants.

Private space flights, a planned human mission to

Mars, a NASA probe that broke free from the Solar

System three years ago and just kept on going.

That's some of what America can do.

That's why we're constantly pushing Congress to fund the

work of our scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and

dreamers to keep America on the cutting-edge.

As President, I'm proud to honor each of you for your

contributions to our nations.

As an American, I'm proud of everything that you've done

to contribute to that fearless spirit of

innovation that's made us who we are, and that doesn't

just benefit our citizens but benefits the world.

We're very proud of what you've done.

So congratulations to all of you.

With that, let's read the citations and present

the awards.

(applause)

MILITARY AIDE: National Medals of Science.

Armand Paul Alivisatos.

(applause)

National Medal of Science to Armand Paul Alivisatos,

University of California, and Lawrence Berkeley

National Lab, California.

For his foundational contributions to the field

of nanoscience, for the development of nanocrystals

as a building block of nanotechnologies, and for

his leadership in the nanoscience community.

(applause)

Michael Artin.

(applause)

National Medal of Science to Michael Artin, Massachusetts

Institute of Technology, Massachusetts.

For his leadership in modern algebraic geometry,

including three major bodies of work: Étale cohomology,

algebraic approximation of formal solutions of

equations, and non-commutative

algebraic geometry.

(applause)

Albert Bandura.

(applause)

National Medal of Science to Albert Bandura, Stanford

University, California.

For fundamental advances in the understanding of social

learning mechanisms and self-referent thinking

processes in motivation and behavior change, and for the

development of social cognitive theory of human

action and psychological development.

(applause)

Stanley Falkow.

(applause)

National Medal of Science to Stanley Falkow, Stanford

University School of Medicine, California.

For his monumental contributions toward

understanding how microbes cause disease and resist the

effects of antibiotics, and for his inspiring mentorship

that create the field of molecular

microbial pathogenesis.

(applause)

Shirley Ann Jackson.

(applause)

National Medal of Science to Shirley Ann Jackson,

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York.

For her insightful work in condensed matter physics and

particle physics, for her science-rooted public policy

achievements, and for her inspiration to the next

generation of professionals in the science, technology,

engineering, and math fields.

(applause)

Rakesh K. Jain.

(applause)

National Medal of Science to Rakesh K.

Jain, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General

Hospital, Massachusetts.

For pioneering research at the interface of engineering

and oncology, including tumor microenvironment, drug

delivery and imaging, and for groundbreaking

discoveries of principles leading to the development

and novel use of drugs for treatment of cancer and

non-cancerous diseases.

(applause)

Mary-Claire King.

(applause)

National Medal of Science to Mary-Claire King, University

of Washington, Washington.

For pioneering contributions to human genetics, including

discovery of the BRCA1 susceptibility gene for

breast cancer; and for development of genetic

methods to match "disappeared" victims of

human rights abuses with their families.

(applause)

Simon Asher Levin.

(applause)

National Medal of Science to Simon Asher Levin,

Princeton, New Jersey.

For international leadership in environmental science,

straddling ecology and applied mathematics, to

promote conservation; for his impact on a generation

of environmental scientists; and for his critical

contributions to ecology, environmental economics,

epidemiology, applied mathematics, and evolution.

(applause)

Geraldine Richmond.

(applause)

National Medal of Science to Geraldine Richmond,

University of Oregon, Oregon.

For her landmark discoveries of the molecular

characteristics of water surfaces; for her creative

demonstration of how her findings impact many key

biological, environmental, chemical and technological

processes; and for her extraordinary efforts in the