With its reputation for dominating the Sloan Fellowship, UC Berkeley seems to do well when it comes to award-winning researchers who aren’t too many years out of grad school.

Today, three young researchers, two from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and one from UC Berkeley, were given top honors by President Obama. They are among 100 recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers.

Sanjay Kumar, UC Berkeley assistant professor of bioengineering, won the award in the Department of Defense category.

LBNL scientists Cecilia Aragon and Jeffrey B. Neaton won Department of Energy awards.

“These extraordinarily gifted young scientists and engineers represent the best in our country,” Obama said in a statement. “With their talent, creativity, and dedication, I am confident that they will lead their fields in new breakthroughs and discoveries and help us use science and technology to lift up our nation and our world.”

Laura Tyson, professor in the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and a member of of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory board, suggested today that another federal stimulus package may be necessary to pull the economy out of the hole.

Bloomberg News is reporting that Tyson said in a Singapore event today that the February $787 billion economic stimulus package was too small to make a difference.
From Bloomberg News:

“The economy is worse than we forecast on which the stimulus program was based,” Tyson, who is a member of Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory board, told the Nomura Equity Forum. “We probably have already 2.5 million more job losses than anticipated.”

According to Bloomberg News, Tyson said a new stimulus package could be in the works.

Tyson, 62, later told reporters that the U.S. can afford to pay for a second package, even as the fiscal deficit soars. She said the budget shortfall is “likely to be worse” than the equivalent of 12 percent of gross domestic product that the administration forecast for 2009 and the 8 percent to 9 percent it projected for next year.

Tyson is currently the S. K. and Angela Chan Chair in Global Management in the Haas Business and Public Policy Group, part of the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.

A daily roundup of the biggest headlines in Bay Area and national news.

Supreme Court to Consider Constitutionality of Life in Prison for Juveniles

Returers reported that the US Supreme Court will consider whether juveniles can be sentenced to life in prison for crimes other than murder, agreeing to hear arguments in two Florida cases

Obama to Toughen Offshore Tax Policies

President Barack Obama presented proposals today targeting American companies and wealthy individuals that pay lower tax rates by investing money overseas, The New York Times reported.

Berkeley residents will soon see a new mural at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School.

The mural, which depicts Martin Luther King Jr. and President Barack Obama, was approved earlier this month by the Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education.

The school’s Principal Jason Lustig said the school has been thinking about painting the mural in the barren sixth grade plaza for about a year.

“We’re excited about it,” Lustig said. “It’s something that we wanted to do.”

Some members of the community have raised concerns that depicting President Obama in a mural before he’s even finished his first year in office is premature.

However, Lustig said the mural honors the election of the first African American president in the United States and that President Obama’s politics are not related to the painting.

“(The mural) is not a statement about whether or not you agree with (Obama) politically,” he said. “He’s our first African American president and that deserves honoring in and of itself.”

District Spokesperson Mark Coplan said the only real issues down the road are what the district will do with murals a decade after they’ve been painted and whether the district will restore or paint over them.

Coplan said the Parent Teacher Association at the school has given the district permission to paint over or cover the mural if deemed necessary in the future.

The mural is the newest addition to a vast collection of murals that decorate district property.

Coplan said mural painting is a way to make buildings and structures better reflect the communities they serve.

“In our schools, it very clearly is a desire on part of the school population to personalize institutionalized space,” he said.

President Barack Obama Pays Unexpected Visit to Iraq

In the midst of a week-long trip overseas, President Barack Obama stopped in Baghdad on Tuesday to address hundreds of Americans, calling them to “take responsibility for their country and for their sovereignty,” according to The New York Times.

Gay Marriage Legalized in Vermont

With a 100-49 House legislature vote, Vermont became the fourth state to legalize same-sex marriage, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.  Connecticut, Massachusetts and Iowa are the other states that grant gay couples the right to marry.

A daily roundup of the biggest headlines in Bay Area and national news.

Christina Romer Discusses Economic Downturn

Christina Romer, former UC Berkeley economist and chairwoman of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, said on Monday that the country’s economic condition “pales in comparison to what our parents and grandparents experienced in the 1930s,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle. She said the administration’s actions to boost the economy go beyond the $787 billion stimulus and include determining that banks are sound and addressing housing foreclosures.

Suicide Bombing Resurfaces Concerns in Iraq

An increase in security precautions brought a period without attacks in Iraq, but on Tuesday, a suicide bomber targeting Iraqi army officers en route to a reconciliation conference killed 33 people, according to the The New York Times. This has brought back concerns of insurgents’ abilities to mount attacks.