US President Barack Obama awards the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Dr. Chenming Hu, University of California, Berkeley, for pioneering innovations in microelectronics including reliability technologies, the first industry-standard model for circuit design, and the first 3-dimensional transistors, which radically advanced semiconductor technology 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. Mark Humayun, University of Southern California, for the invention, development, and application of bioelectronics in medicine, including a retinal prosthesis for restoring vision to the blind, significantly improving patients quality of life 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. Nancy Ho, Green Tech America, Inc. and Purdue University, IN, for the development of a yeast-based technology that is able to co-ferment sugars extracted from plants to produce ethanol, and for optimizing this technology for large-scale and cost-effective production of renewable biofuels and industrial chemicals 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. Arthur Gossard, University of California, Santa Barbara, for innovation, development, and application of artificially structured quantum materials critical to ultrahigh performance semiconductor device technology used in digital infrastructure 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 Technology and Innovation to Dr. Joseph DeSimone, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, and Carbon3D, CA, for pioneering innovations in material science that led to the development of technologies in diverse fields from manufacturing to medicine; and for innovative and inclusive leadership in higher education and entrepreneurship 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. Mary-Claire King, University of 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 at the White House in Washington, DC, on May 19, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Nicholas KammNICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images