With this Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) award, the Synthetic Organic Program is supporting the research and educational efforts of Dr. Erick M. Carreira of the Department of Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Carreira is one of sixty young, independent researchers to receive the first annual PECASE award. There are twenty PECASE awardees from the Foundation this year. This highly prestigious award is being given in recognition of excellence and promise for future success in scientific and engineering research, and the potential for eventual leadership of the awardees in their respective fields. In his generation, Professor Carreira is a leader in the area of organic synthesis as his total synthesis of zaragozic acid and his development of new catalysts for enantioselective aldol condensation reactions have shown. His two teaching awards and his active outreach efforts point to excellence in his educational activities