National Institute of Standards and Technology Recognizes Staff

GAITHERSBURG, Md.—Employees of the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) were recognized in an awards ceremony Dec. 7 at NIST's Gaithersburg campus. Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director Patrick Gallagher and other officials presented the NIST awards and recognized recipients of the Department of Commerce Gold and Silver medals, who will receive their awards in a separate ceremony.

Bronze

Seventy-four employees received the Bronze Medal Award, NIST's highest honorary recognition. Initiated in 1966, it is given for significant performance characterized by outstanding or significant contributions that have increased the efficiency and effectiveness of NIST.

Chandler Becker – "For the establishment and development of the NIST Interatomic Potentials Repository, widely used by industry for product and materials development"

Tanya Burke – "For administrative and technical leadership in the execution of critical, time-sensitive facility modifications supporting the NIST Center for Neutron Research expansion project"

Gretchen Campbell – "For proving the feasibility of atomtronics, a new field of atom-based electronics, by demonstrating the first controllable atom circuit"

Clay Davis – "For innovative research in the development of new metrology and measurement capabilities for elemental speciation analysis"

Allan Harvey – "For an application of molecular-level calculations to practice for advanced power generation cycles, humidity standards, and fundamental metrology"

Vincent Luciani – "For making the NanoFab a world-class national resource for nanoscale measurement and fabrication that operates safely and with exceptional customer service"

Magdalena Navarro – "For coordination of NIST international activities, particularly fostering NIST-China engagement and NIST-Japan cooperation"

Sheila Nichols – "For leadership, customer service, and innovation in the implementation of a highly successful human resources and benefits outreach program"

Paul Over – "For leadership and technical excellence in creating the NIST video retrieval program and driving improvement of the state of the art in video search"

James Schufreider – "For leading NIST's legislative outreach activities in support of the passage of the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act of 2010"

Teresa Schwarzhoff – "For leadership in the development of critical international standards that enable broad adoption of identity management technology"

Julie Borchers and Cindi Dennis – "For showing complete tumor regression in 75 percent of cancerous mice occurs only after hyperthermia treatment using magnetically interacting nanoparticles"

Robert Cook and Frank DelRio – "For development and application of a scanning probe method for measuring coupled mechanical and electrical properties of nanoscale molecular layers"

Yung-Tsun Tina Lee, Swee Leong, and Frank Riddick – "For significant contributions to measurement science that resulted in an international standard for integrating discrete-event simulation tools"

Aaron Forster, Chris Michaels, Tinh Nguyen, and Li Piin Sung – "For measurement science relating the optical, mechanical and chemical properties of polymeric coatings to their scratch and damage resistance"

Peter Huang, Christopher Meyer, W. Wyatt Miller, and Gregory Scace – "For leapfrogging current technology to deliver the broadest range of humidity and water vapor measurements at the world's lowest uncertainties"

John Kramar, Jon Pratt, Gordon Shaw, III, and Douglas Smith – "For advancing nanoscale science by developing the world's first force standards applicable to measurements of single-molecules and atomic interactions"

Brian Burnham, Bryan Faktor, Jason Gerloff, Teresa Hernandez, Gary Herrli, and Joseph Mahlberg – "For making several complex American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funded awards improving NIST's research capabilities by providing a state-of-the-art Precision Measurement Laboratory"

Mary Brady, Alden Dima, John Elliott, Jr., James Filliben, Michael Halter, Adele Peskin, and Anne Plant – "For advancing the accuracy of measurements for cell biology through metrics for assessing object segmentation and technologies for live cell tracking"

David Allen, Steven Brown, and Joseph Rice – "For inventing and demonstrating the Hyperspectral Image Projector, thereby enabling the realistic laboratory calibration of optical imaging sensors"

Michael Antonishek, William Chambers, Rachel Glenn, Keith Kwiatek, Gale Richter, Robert Sorensen, Scott Spencer, Charles Starkenburg, Tam Ta, and Sandy Yu – "For development and NIST-wide deployment of the two-factor authentication system for remote access to NIST IT services"

Christopher Blackburn, Bruce Borchardt, James Filliben, Amanda Forster, Steven Phillips, Kirk Rice, Michael Riley, Daniel Sawyer, and Craig Shakarji – "For delivering the crucial measurements needed, in the aggressive timeframe required, to ensure the reliable testing of body armor used by U.S. troops"

Tommy Chang, Anthony Downs, Charles Giauque, Tsai Hong, Adam Jacoff, Richard Norcross, Harry Scott, Michael Shneier, and Ann Virts – "For advancement of measurement science for evaluating the performance of autonomous vehicles in realistic, complex and dynamic environments"

Eugene Casson Crittenden Award

The Crittenden Award, established in 1967, recognizes superior achievement by permanent employees who perform supporting services that have a significant impact on technical programs beyond their own offices.

Sarah Bell – "For delighting customers by scheduling thousands of meetings and handling a myriad of details while always remaining calm in the midst of the storm"

David Francis – "For being extremely customer service-oriented and always striving to improve upon the level of service that the Plant Division provides"

Timothy Gladhill – "For his HVAC expertise and career accomplishments at NIST"

John Lomax – "For outstanding service to NIST and its customers resulting in significant workflow improvements in the field of Optoelectronic Measurement Services"

Timothy Orr – "For meeting the challenges of increased demand for property disposal while providing excellent customer service"

Ronnie Richardson – "For managing the plumbing problems plaguing 60+ year-old piping and fixtures while simultaneously finding ways to conserve resources"

John Shirbach – "For using his extensive experience to find better, more efficient ways to complete various renovation, maintenance, and repair tasks"

Dwayne Woodard – "For greatly contributing to the efficiency and effectiveness of the excess property program"

Allen V. Astin Measurement Service Award

The Allen V. Astin Measurement Service Award, first presented in 1984, is granted for outstanding achievement in the advancement of measurement science or in the delivery of measurement services.

Thomas Gentile – "For excellence, innovation, and leadership in polarized helium research for applications in materials development and medical diagnostics"

Edward Uhler Condon Award

The Condon Award recognizes distinguished achievements in written exposition in science and technology. The award was initiated in 1974.

Till Rosenband and David Wineland – "For outstanding communication of complex research and measurement results on world-leading atomic clocks and relativity"

Judson C. French Award

The French award, first presented in 2000, is granted for significant improvement in products delivered directly to industry, including new or improved NIST calibration services, Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) and Standard Reference Databases.

Michael Lombardi and Andrew Novick – "For leadership in development of exquisitely precise remote time and frequency measurement services delivered directly to customers"

Karen Murphy, Michele Schantz, and Lee Yu – "For leadership and teamwork with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the delivery of critical SRMs to support the assessment of human exposure to environmental contaminants"

Jacob Rabinow Applied Research Award

The Jacob Rabinow Applied Research Award, first presented in 1975, is granted for outstanding achievements in the practical application of the results of scientific engineering research.

John Barker, Paul Butler, and James Moyer – "For the design, development, and stewardship of USANS:  An ultra-high resolution, small-angle, neutron-scattering instrument"

Edward Bennett Rosa Award

The Rosa Award, established in 1964, is granted for outstanding achievement in or contributions to the development of meaningful and significant engineering, scientific or documentary standards either within NIST or in cooperation with other government agencies or private groups.

Samuel Low, III – "For leadership in the ASTM Rockwell hardness standard, a most important engineering documentary standard for the mechanical properties of metals"

William P. Slichter Award

The Slichter Award, first presented in 1992, is granted for outstanding achievements by NIST staff in building or strengthening ties between NIST and industry. The award was presented to:

Timothy Foecke, Mark Iadicola, and Mark Stoudt – "For the development of close ties between NIST and the U.S. auto industry over the past decade to build a noteworthy and sustained interaction"

Samuel Wesley Stratton Award

The Samuel Wesley Stratton Award, first presented in 1962, is granted for outstanding scientific or engineering achievements in support of NIST objectives.

Daniel Josell and Thomas Moffat, Metallurgist – "For models and processes for defect-free filling of nanoscale features that revolutionized interconnect technologies in high-speed computer chips"

George A. Uriano Award

The George A. Uriano Award, first presented in 1996, is granted for outstanding achievements by NIST staff in building or strengthening NIST extramural programs, with emphasis on fostering U.S. competitiveness and business excellence.

Shannon Bowman, David Stieren, and Carroll Thomas Martin – "For exemplary achievement creating a program identifying U.S. manufacturers with the capability and capacity to support American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Buy American provisions"

Zahraha Brunner, Mary Eastman, Robert Fangmeyer, Barbara Fischer, and LouAnn Scott – "For outstanding leadership in the use of social media to advance the mission of the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program"

NIST Colleagues' Choice Award

The NIST Colleagues' Choice Award was developed in response to the NIST Employee Survey feedback, which indicated a need to value and recognize non-supervisory employees at NIST, who in the eyes of their colleagues, have made significant contributions that broadly advance the NIST mission and strategic goals or broadly contribute to the overall health and effectiveness of NIST.

Jeffrey Anderson – "For expertise in glassblowing and material science for fabricating glasses of required optical quality and composition for the nuclear and fluorescence communities"

Alan Band – "For enthusiastic dedication to his work, original ideas for solving difficult measurement problems, and unending desire to help colleagues in need"

Shari Tobery – "For broadly contributing over a sustained period of time to the advancement of NIST's mission while performing her duties as administrative support"

Equal Employment Opportunity/Diversity Award

The Equal Employment Opportunity/Diversity Award, first presented in 1977, is granted for exceptionally significant accomplishments and contributions to equal employment opportunity/diversity goals.

William Phillips – "For his continued dedication as an ambassador for science to both the general public and underrepresented groups" 

Safety Award for Superior Accomplishment

The Safety Award for Superior Accomplishment, first presented in 1979, is granted to any deserving employee within the Institute, in either a supervisory or a non-supervisory position, for unusually significant contributions to NIST Occupational Safety and Health Program activities.

Joshua Hadler – "For tireless dedication and outstanding leadership resulting in dramatically improved laser safety practices and policies across NIST"

Christina Cross, W. Wyatt Miller, Dean Ripple, and Gregory Strouse – "For leadership and lasting impact in the campaign to eliminate neurotoxic mercury thermometers from the workplace"

Andrew Berglund, Stephanie Hooker, David LaVan, John Lehman, Polly McCarty, Kalman Migler, Dianne Poster, Darwin Reyes-Hernandez, Glen Solomon, Andras Vladar, and Stephanie Watson – "For developing, as founding members of the Engineered Nanoparticle Safety Committee, a comprehensive program for the safe use of nanoparticles at NIST"

Gold Medal

Twenty-three employees received Department of Commerce Gold Medals. The Gold Medal, first presented in 1949, is the highest honor award conferred upon an employee of the Department of Commerce. It is bestowed for "distinguished performance characterized by extraordinary, notable or prestigious contributions that impact the mission of the Department of Commerce and/or one operating unit and which reflect favorably on the Department." Awards are given in the following categories: leadership, personal and professional excellence, scientific/engineering achievement, organizational development, customer service, administrative/technical support and heroism.

Sae Woo Nam – "For enabling breakthroughs in ultra-secure communication systems and quantum metrology by developing the world's best single photon detector"

Deborah Jin and Jun Ye – "For pioneering the fundamental measurement science of ultracold molecules and ultracold chemistry"

Douglas Montgomery, William (Tim) Polk, and Scott Rose – "For the successful deployment of Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) at the authoritative root zone that mitigates fundamental vulnerabilities and secures the Internet Domain Name System (DNS)"

*In collaboration with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration

Brian Antonishek, Ronald Boisvert, Charles Clark, Daniel Lozier, Marjorie McClain, Bruce Miller, Frank Olver, Bonita Saunders, and Abdou Youssef  – "For development of the NIST Digital Library of Mathematical Functions, an unprecedented reference on the special functions of applied mathematics"

Paul Boynton, Gerald FitzPatrick, Nada Golmie, Allen Hefner, Jr., David Holmberg, Dean Prochaska, Marianne Swanson, and David Wollman  – "For developing a globally recognized Smart Grid standards framework enabling transition to a clean energy economy and increased U.S. competitiveness"

Two International Trade Association employees also received the award.

Silver Medal

Twenty-five employees received Department of Commerce Silver Medals. The Silver Medal is the second highest honor awarded by the Department of Commerce. It is bestowed for "exceptional performance characterized by noteworthy or superlative contributions that have a direct and lasting impact within the Department." Awards are given in the following categories: leadership, personal and professional excellence, scientific/engineering achievement, organizational development, customer service, administrative/technical support and heroism. The award was initiated in 1949.

Jason Averill – "For establishing the technical basis for effectiveness of crew size and arrival time on the residential fire ground"

Talapady Bhat – "For developing Chem-BLAST, a software tool that allows researchers to search databases to identify new candidate drug molecules"

Scott Diddams – "For leading a world-class precision measurement program using laser frequency combs for applications critical to the Department and the nation"

Dereck Orr – "In collaboration with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration:  For successful implementation of a voluntary Project 25 Compliance Assessment Program that increases public safety"

Michal Chojnacky and Gregory Strouse – "For solving vaccine cold-chain management problems that were rendering nearly two-thirds of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine stock ineffective"

Sudook Kim and Grady White – "For providing critical data leading to new practices for acceptance testing of electronic components used in active implantable medical devices"

Ian Coddington, Nathan Newbury, and William Swann – "For record-breaking precision in both distance and spectroscopy measurement tools through pioneering advances in fiber-laser frequency combs"

Pedro Espina, Aaron Johnson, Michael Moldover, Antonio Possolo, Blaza Toman, and John Wright – "For the development of flow estimates and uncertainty analysis of the amount of oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig following the April 20, 2010, explosion"

Anthony Downs, Emile Morse, Frederick Proctor, Gregory Sanders, Craig Schlenoff, Michelle Steves, Ann Virts, and Brian Weiss – "For developing techniques to measure and assess the performance of automated Middle Eastern speech translation systems leading to U.S. military use"