President Barack Obama presents the Medal of Freedom to Mildred Dresselhaus during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on November 24, 2014 in Washington, DC. The Medal of Freedom is the country's highest civilian honor. Mildred Dresselhaus is one of the most prominent physicists, materials scientists, and electrical engineers of her generation. A professor of physics and electrical engineering at MIT, she is best known for deepening our understanding of condensed matter systems and the atomic properties of carbon, which has contributed to major advances in electronics and materials research. (Photo by Jeff Malet)
President Barack Obama presents the Medal of Freedom to Ethel Kennedy during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on November 24, 2014 in Washington, DC. The Medal of Freedom is the country's highest civilian honor. Ethel Kennedy has dedicated her life to advancing the cause of social justice, human rights, environmental protection, and poverty reduction by creating countless ripples of hope to effect change around the world. Over 45 years ago, she founded the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, which is dedicated to realizing her husband's dream of a more just and peaceful world. Ethel Kennedy was most recently honored for her longtime advocacy of environmental causes in neglected areas of Washington, D.C. with the dedication of the "Ethel Kennedy Bridge" over the Anacostia River. (Photo by Jeff Malet)
