Acknowledging exceptional performance, service, and expertise
Recognition by the scientific community and other stakeholders affirms the high quality of Livermore's work and innovative spirit. The awards on these pages showcase the efforts of the Laboratory's talented staff.
PECASE Honors
Four LLNL scientists received the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Félicie Albert, Daniel Casey, Richard Kraus, and Arthur Pak were awarded the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on scientists and engineers who are early in their careers and have distinguished themselves in their respective fields. PECASE awardees also have demonstrated public service through educational and community outreach.
William Procter Prize
Climate scientist Benjamin Santer received the 2019 William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement from the Scientific Research Honor Society Sigma Xi. The prize is awarded to a scientist who has made an outstanding contribution to scientific research and has demonstrated an ability to communicate the significance of this research to scientists in other disciplines. Previous recipients include E.O. Lawrence.
DOE and NNSA Awards
Physicist Jingke Xu and computer scientist Kathryn Mohror are among the 73 scientists nationwide who were recipients of the DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program award. Under the program, Laboratory scientists typically receive research funding totaling $500,000 per year for five years.
Seven LLNL project teams were recognized with NNSA Defense Programs Awards of Excellence for important contributions to the Stockpile Stewardship Program and strategic deterrence.
DOE awarded Director's Office staff member Paul Chrzanowski the Derivative Classifier of the Year award for 2019.
LLNL and staff members Charity Follett, Candice Gellner, and Quentin Vaughan were awarded the best-in-class National Technology Transfer Award by the DOE Technology Transfer Working Group for innovation in partnering related to the Accelerating Therapeutics for Opportunities in Medicine (ATOM) consortium.
Engineer John Schindler was awarded the Supply Chain Management Center (Kansas City) Small Business Advocate of the Year Most Valuable Person by the NNSA administrator.
Special Service Awards
The U.S. Air Force recognized the distinguished performance of physicist César Pruneda with an Award for Meritorious Civilian Service while on an off-site assignment as scientific advisor to the Air Force Global Strike Command.
Professional Society Fellows
Six scientists have been selected as 2019 fellows of the American Physical Society (see the box below).
Physical chemist Nerine Cherepy was elected to the rank of fellow of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics.
Climate scientist Karl Taylor has been selected as a fellow of the American Geophysical Union for improving capabilities to evaluate and intercompare climate models and advance understanding of climate responses.
Atmospheric scientist Stephen Klein was selected as a fellow of the American Meteorological Society for outstanding contributions to atmospheric sciences and applications over his nearly 30-year career.
Physicist Jon Belof was elected a Kavli Fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and presented his research at the NAS Frontiers of Science symposium, the academy's premiere activity for distinguished young scientists.
Scientists Félicie Albert, Eyal Feigenbaum, and Bruce Warner have been named senior members of the Optical Society, recognizing their more than 10 years of professional experience in optics or an optics-related field.
Six LLNL scientists have been selected as 2019 fellows of the American Physical Society: Félicie Albert, Kim Budil, Jutta Escher, Sofia Quaglioni, Harry Robey, and Ye Zhou. The new fellows represent a wide range of physics expertise, from computational physics and shock compression of condensed matter to instrument and measurement science.
Science and Technology Awards
Research scientist Paul Durack was awarded the World Climate Research Programme 2018 Data Prize for his leadership of the input4MIPs project.
Geochemist Thomas Kruijer has won the F.W. Clarke Award from the Geochemical Society. The award honors an outstanding contribution to geochemistry or cosmochemistry, published by an early career scientist.
National Ignition Facility (NIF) researcher Eyal Feigenbaum received the Alexander Glass Best Oral Presentation Award from SPIE for his presentation at the Laser Damage 2018 conference.
Daniel Clark, leader of NIF's Capsule Modeling Working Group, won the 2018 American Institute of Physics Ronald C. Davidson Award for Plasma Physics, recognizing outstanding published research.
Senior engineering associate Carlos Castro won the 2019 Larry Foreman Award for innovation and excellence in inertial confinement fusion target fabrication.
Nuclear physicist Maria Gatu Johnson, engaged in experimental campaigns at NIF, was named winner of the Katherine E. Weimer Award recognizing outstanding plasma science research by a woman physicist in the early stages of her career.
Computer scientist Ignacio Laguna was selected as one of four 2019 Better Scientific Software Fellows, recognizing his leadership and advocacy of high-quality scientific software.
The Laser Institute of America recognized laser safety officer Jamie King with the R. James Rockwell Jr. Educational Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions in laser safety education.
Special Honors
HPCwire named Lori Diachin, serving as deputy director for DOE's Exascale Computing Project, as one of its "People to Watch" in 2019. The honor recognizes people who are likely to propel the high-performance computing industry forward.
Colin Yamaoka, program coordinator for the Livermore Laboratory Employee Services Association, was named as a 2019 Game Changers award winner. Workforce Magazine selects the top human resources practitioners under the age of 40 dedicated to pushing forward innovative people-management practices.
Philip Adams, chief technical officer for NIF, was recognized with a 2018 Oracle Excellence Award for exceptional use of Oracle solutions to accelerate innovation and drive business transformation.
Artist John Jett was honored with a 'Best Comic Design' Adobe Government Creativity Award for his educational comic book explaining NIF and the types of careers that support its operation.
Physicist Tammy Ma was named Woman of the Year for the 16th Assembly District by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan for her commitment to mentoring young students who share her passion for science.
