Five at NIST Honored with Flemming Awards

The Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration at The George Washington University has announced that five researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are among 13 federal employees being honored with 2012 Arthur S. Flemming Awards.

Gretchen Campbell (Physical Measurement Laboratory, Quantum Measurement Division) is being honored for her pioneering accomplishments in the emerging field of atomtronics, in which ultracold atoms are manipulated to make "atom circuits" in analogy to electrical circuits.

Kathryn Beers (Materials Measurement Laboratory, Materials Science and Engineering Division) is being honored for her contributions to controlled polymer synthesis, microfluidic technology for the production and analysis of new materials and creative approaches to advance green polymer chemistry.

Michal Chojnacky (Physical Measurement Laboratory, Sensor Science Division) is being honored for her work in applying research in temperature measurement to public health clinics and primary care physician offices to help ensure the potency of over $3.6 billion dollars of vaccines distributed each year through programs administered by the CDC.

Leticia Pibida (Physical Measurement Laboratory, Radiation and Biomolecular Physics Division) is being honored "for her tireless efforts ... to ensure that the Nation's security and first response communities have the radiation detection equipment they need, designed to the highest standards and for the intended users, in their continuing efforts to guard the nation against radiological and nuclear threats on U.S. soil.

Joel Ullom (Physical Measurement Laboratory, Quantum Electronics and Photonics Division) is being recognized for his work in developing and deploying "a revolutionary new type of high-resolution radiation detector to solve important national measurement problems related to nuclear nonproliferation, nuclear forensics, and advanced materials analysis."

In a speech before the Washington, D.C., Downtown Jaycees in the late 1940s, Dr. Arthur S. Flemming suggested that the group create an award to recognize exceptional young employees within the federal government. Flemming felt that a chapter in the nation's capital was in the perfect position to educate the public about the contributions young civil servants make to America.

In 1948, the Downtown Jaycees established and presented the first Flemming Awards. Since 1998, the awards have been administered by The George Washington University, which will present the awards at a ceremony on June 10, 2013. The full citations for the Flemming award winners are at http://flemming.gwu.edu/.