President Bush awarded two Northwestern University professors the 2005 National Medal of Science – the nation’s highest award for lifetime achievement in scientific research – at a White House ceremony on Friday.

“We got some smart people here and we’re glad you’re American,” Bush said to the applause of the audience.

They are Jan D. Achenbach of the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and Tobin J. Marks, a chemistry professor in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.

Achenbach was recognized for his contributions to engineering research and education in the field of wave propagation in solids.  He also was honored for revolutionizing the field of quantitative non-destructive evaluation. 

Achenbach also received the 2003 National Medal of Technology – the country’s highest achievement for technological innovation.

Marks was honored for his ground-breaking research in homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, organo-f-element chemistry, new electronic and photonic materials and diverse areas of coordination and solid state chemistry.

Achenbach and Marks are the first Northwestern recipients of the National Medal of Science award.

At the ceremony, Bush also presented the 2005 and 2006 Medals of Science to 14 other researchers and the 2005 and 2006 National Medals of Technology to seven scientists, three companies and one four-person team.

During the ceremony, Bush promoted a restructuring of his No Child Left Behind Act.

“As members (of Congress) work to reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act, one of their top priorities has got to be to strengthen math and science education,” he said.

Bush offered his own solution, calling for Congress to fund a teacher corps that would bring science professionals to the classroom.