WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 19: U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz speaks with guests during a ceremony for the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, in the East Room of the White House, May 19, 2016, in Washington, DC. Established in 1959, the National Medal of Science recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to science and engineering. The National Medal of Technology and Innovation, created in 1980, recognizes those who have made contributions to America's competitiveness, quality of life, and helped strengthen the country's technological workforce. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

US President Barack Obama awards the National Medal of Science to Dr. Armand Paul Alivisatos, University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, CA 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 at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 19, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Nicholas KammNICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

US President Barack Obama awards the National Medal of Science to Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, for her 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 at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 19, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Nicholas KammNICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

US President Barack Obama awards the National Medal of Science to Dr. Albert Bandura, Stanford University, CA, for fundamental advances in the understanding of social learning mechanisms and self-referent thinking processes in motivation and behaviour change, and for the development of the social cognitive theory of human action and psychological development at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 19, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Nicholas KammNICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

US President Barack Obama awards the National Medal of Science to Dr. Rakesh Jain, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital for pioneering research at the interface of engineering and oncology, including tumour 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 at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 19, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Nicholas KammNICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

US President Barack Obama awards the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Dr. Robert Fischell, University of Maryland, College Park, for invention of novel medical devices used in the treatment of many illnesses improving the health and saving the lives of millions of patients around the world at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 19, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Nicholas KammNICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

US President Barack Obama awards the National Medal of Science to Dr. Geraldine Richmond, University of 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 efforts in the United States and around the globe to promote women in science at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 19, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Nicholas KammNICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images

US President Barack Obama awards the National Medal of Science to Dr. Geraldine Richmond, University of 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 efforts in the United States and around the globe to promote women in science at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 19, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Nicholas KammNICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images