Acknowledging exceptional performance and expertise
Peers, stakeholders, and the broader scientific community recognize the achievements and high-quality work of Livermore’s talented and innovative workforce. These awards are a testament to the value of LLNL’s research and service to the nation—as well as neighboring communities.
Prestigious PECASE Honor
LLNL researchers Jon Belof and Eric Duoss received the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineering (PECASE). Belof was honored for his work in phase transition dynamics and nonequilibrium systems. Duoss received his PECASE award for research in advanced materials and manufacturing combined with microarchitected design. Both Belof and Duoss volunteered substantial time to educational outreach.
NNSA Gold Award
Jay Zucca received an NNSA Distinguished Service Gold Award for his work in nuclear security and nonproliferation. Anne Harrington, deputy administrator for nuclear nonproliferation, presented this high honor.
National Academy of Engineering Membership
The National Academy of Engineering bestowed its highest honor, membership in the Academy, to retired Livermore senior scientist Charlie Westbrook, for his “pioneering development, applications, and leadership in chemical kinetic modeling to advance combustion science and technology.”
DOE Secretary’s Appreciation Awards
Fifteen LLNL employees were honored with Secretary’s Appreciation Awards for their work on three teams: the Ebola task force, the Cancer Moonshot work, and Technology Convergence working group.
DARPA Program Manager of the Year
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) named engineer and physicist Vincent Tang as a Program Manager of the Year for 2016, recognizing him for leading a program involving multiple agencies.
Professional Society Fellows
The American Physical Society (APS) named Adam Bernstein, Omar Hurricane, Hui Chen, and James Trebes as fellows.
Chris Barty, National Ignition Facility (NIF) chief technology officer, was named a 2017 Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
The Optical Society selected physicist Manyalibo Matthews as a fellow.
Atmospheric scientist Ben Santer was selected a fellow by the American Meteorological Society.
Livermore mathematician Carol Woodward was named a fellow by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
Professional Society Senior Members
Physicist Craig Siders was named a senior member of the Optical Society of America. He evaluates and develops laser technologies for future advanced photon sources and their applications.
Physicist Regina Soufli has been elected as a senior member of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.
APS Awards
Dmitri Ryutov won the James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics. The American Physical Society (APS) honored his “many outstanding contributions to the theoretical plasma physics of low- and high-energy-density plasmas, open and closed magnetic configurations, and laboratory and astrophysical systems.”
Andrew MacKinnon was awarded the John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research by APS’s division of Plasma Physics. The award cited his pioneering use of proton radiography to reveal new aspects of flows, instabilities, and fields in high-energy-density plasmas.
Physicist Félicie Albert received the 2017 Katherine E. Weimer Award from APS’s division of Plasma Physics. She was cited for developing and characterizing x-ray sources from laser-wakefield accelerators and Compton scattering gamma-ray sources.
Fabre Prize
Félicie Albert won the 2017 Edouard Fabre Prize for her contributions to the physics of laser-driven inertial confinement fusion and laser-produced plasmas. The prize is given by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology Network for Inertial Confinement Fusion.
Fusion Power Awards
The Fusion Power Associates Board of Directors presented NIF scientific diagnostic leader Joe Kilkenny with its Leadership Award for “leadership provided for inertial confinement fusion for nearly four decades.”
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society selected LLNL researcher Wayne Meier as the recipient of its 2016 Fusion Technology Award, recognizing his career of research and leadership advancing the science and technology of fusion power plants.
NNSA Defense Program Awards of Excellence
Eight teams of Livermore researchers and engineers and one individual were presented with the NNSA Defense Program Awards of Excellence. Brigadier General Michael Lutton, principal deputy administrator for Defense Programs, presented the awards.
ACM Best Paper Award
The technical program co-chairs at the 26th International Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Symposium on High-Performance Parallel and Distributed Computing gave the Karsten Schwan Best Paper award to Livermore’s Edgar A. León and collaborators from Virginia Tech University.
STEM Advocate of the Year
LLNL education outreach manager Joanna Albala was named the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) Advocate of the Year by the Executive Council of the North Central Valley STEM Center. She was honored for going above and beyond in creating opportunities for students.
Workforce Game Changers
Kellie Glaser, program manager for the Livermore Laboratory Employee Services Association, received a 2017 Workforce Game Changers Award from Workforce Magazine for her efforts to engage LLNL’s workforce through innovative programs designed to improve work-life balance.
Hutcheon Fellowship
LLNL’s David Weisz was named by the Department of Homeland Security to receive the first Dr. Ian Hutcheon Post-Doctoral Fellowship. The fellowship honors the Livermore scientist who played a significant role in developing nuclear forensics.
Greenman Award
Julio Friedmann received the Greenman Award by the Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies conference series for his tireless efforts to promote carbon capture and storage, particularly at large scale.
Meeting of the New Champions
Tammy Ma was invited to the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, China. Ma was one of 55 scientists from around the world that were invited to attend as part of the Young Scientists Class of 2017, honoring researchers under the age of 40 for their groundbreaking work.
