More than 200 ORNL employees were honored for outstanding performance in operations and support, management, community service and research and development at the annual Lockheed Martin Awards Night, held last month in Knoxville. Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation manages ORNL for the Department of Energy.
Recipients of the top honors include .
Yang Cheng of Oak Ridge was named Author of the Year for his ground-breaking publication, "The Conformal Space Projection," which describes the development of a new technique for satellite mapping. Advantages of this method include lower error rate in image projection, ability to continuously display images, and it can be applied to many different satellite orbits. Cheng is a scientist in the Computational Physics and Engineering Division.
Jeff D. Muhs of Lenoir City was selected as Engineer of the Year for his successful cumulative technical innovations in the field of fiber-optic-based sensors and diagnostics. Muhs is an engineer in the Engineering Technology Division.
Rodney A. McKee of Kingston received the Inventor of the Year Award for demonstrating an enabling semiconductor materials technology which has the potential to revolutionize transistor design with million-fold increases in read/write access speed. McKee is a senior research staff member in the Metals and Ceramics Division.
James B. Roberto of Knoxville was named Manager of the Year for extraordinary efforts in applying his management and leadership skills as director of the Solid State Division, in assistance with the ORNL reengineering effort, and in his external professional activities.
Joseph N. Herndon of Knoxville was awarded Operations Improvement Contribution of the Year for teaming to provide exceptional leadership in achieving, developing, and implementing a highly effective process which led to rapid approval of necessary and sufficient standards for ORNL. Herndon is the director of the Robotic and Process Systems Division.
David K. Christen of Oak Ridge and Donald M. Kroeger and Mariappan Paranthaman of Knoxville were each named Scientists of the Year. They represent a team of researchers who were cited for development of the next generation of superconducting wire based upon rolling-assisted, biaxially textured substrates. Christen is in the Solid State Division, Kroeger is in the Metals and Ceramics Division, and Paranthaman is in the Chemical and Analytical Sciences Division.
Other honorees are listed as follow by award category: .
OPERATIONS AND SUPPORT This award recognizes the direct provision of exceptional administrative, technical or operational services in support of the missions and programs of Lockheed Martin Research Corporation. Performance characteristics may include significant efficiency improvements, major cost avoidance or cost reduction activities, innovations that significantly enhance programmatic operations, and extraordinary personal efforts in support of major projects or goals.
Administrative and Office Support: .
Larry C. Gipson of the Biology Division, for originating and instituting innovative approaches to the procurement process and maximizing efficiency and minimizing cost.
Dami L. Rich and Jamie P. Payne of Computing, Information and Networking Division; Diana G. Cooper, Tana S. Helms, Jane L. Stubbs, Ernestine Sloan and Manuel G. Gillispie of Information Management Services (Energy Systems); and Nancy L. Gray and Bonnie M. Nestor of Central Management Offices, for exemplary teaming under severe time restraints to produce materials for the Safe Skies Consortium proposal.
Bargaining Unit Support: .
John Q. Bui, Instrumentation and Controls Division, for personal initiative to become an integral part of a research team instead of merely a service provider.
Peggy P. DePorter, Instrument and Controls Division, for vitally important contributions to the successful completion of the Acoustic Measurement Facility Improvement Program for the U.S. Navy.
David C. Cook, Steven R. Bolden, John L. Childress, Raymond T. Cox, George M. Davis, Gregory S. Hackler, Marvin G. Helton, Hollis Hicks, James M. Hill, Harry D. Housley, Terry L. Housley, Carl S. Johnson, James D. Kirk, Charles R. LaRue, John A. Mann, Michael A. Roberts, Ronald L. Rucker, Gary R. Stepp, Karl Thatcher, Wesley W. Weaver and James H. Woods, Plant and Equipment Division; Ken C. Pressley and Woodrow W. Taliaferro, Administrative Services, for exceptional customer service and effective cultural change in the ORNL Garage.
Lonnie D. Hawkins, Administrative Services, for consistent excellence in customer-focused material control in support of primary ORNL missions.
Charlie H. Justice, Plant and Equipment Division, for exceptional technical support to ceramics and carbon research and development through productive, motivated and well-organized craftwork in pipefitting, vacuum technology and related equipment construction and maintenance.
Buck Overton, Plant and Equipment Division, for essential contributions to ORNL's success in fabricating iridium parts for such projects as the radioisotope thermoelectric generators that provide power for deep space missions and the upcoming Cassini Mission to Saturn.
Craig E. Richesin, Bob Barnes, Wayne W. Bolinger, A. Wayne Hensley, A. Rodney Lawson, Larry R. Lawson, Lindsay M. Long, T. M. McNabb and Shanon R. Paskell, Chemical Technology Division, for outstanding teamwork in accomplishing the deactivation of Building 3029 and placing it in a safe standby condition.
Frank M. Rau, Instrument and Controls Division, for his high standards of professionalism in supporting the Solid State Division and particularly for coordinating all craft activities in moving delicate, expensive and massive analytical equipment to the new Solid State Division building.
Operations Support: .
Robin P. Brendle, Plant and Equipment Division, for outstanding leadership in guiding the Plant and Equipment Division's Transportation and Rigging Services Department toward development of trusting relationships, improvement of morale and increase in customer satisfaction.
Chester L. Coomer, Randy W. Burnett, and Mike Jenkins, Engineering Technology Division, for outstanding support of the Engineering Technology Division in moving 10 laboratories and 60 staff from K-25 to Y-12 without sacrificing technical projects and for contributing to a $300,000 annual cost saving.
Kelly G. Falter and Bill E. Wright, Instrument and Controls Division, for development of the Oak Ridge Calibration Recall Program, which is being adopted throughout Lockheed Martin and DOE, to solve metrology database problems, with potential for licensing and marketing to other companies.
Chris L. Fitzpatrick, Metals And Ceramics Division, for exemplary support of Metals and Ceramics and other research divisions through special fabrication activities.
John C. Glowienka, Office of Quality Programs and Inspection, for managing the ORNL Assessment Program, which provides precise information in response to audits by DOE, corporate and other external agencies with minimum disruption of the Laboratory's Research and Development programs.
Jim M. Hackworth, Plant and Equipment Division, for exceptional support to the Division in its waste management and pollution reduction efforts.
Steve A. Hamley, Office of Radiation Protection, for sustained contribution to ORNL mission success in programs relating to assessment, radiation protection, incident reporting and overall operations.
Joseph N. Herndon, Frank C. Kornegay, Ann S. Drake, David E. Fowler, Jeff P. Hill, Doug Miller, Bill Miller, Wayne Pope, Crystal A. Schrof, Carol H. Scott, David D. Skipper, Fred J. Smith, Larry L. Triplett and Homer Yook, a multi-organizational group, for teaming to provide exceptional leadership in achieving, developing, and implementing a highly effective process that led to rapid approval of Necessary and Sufficient Standards for ORNL.
Andrew J. Lucero, Bob L. Cummins, Betty S. Evans, Jim D. Hewitt, Hal L. Jennings, Tim E. Kent, and Steve A. Richardson, Chemical Technology Division; Sandra Lewis-Lambert, Office of Quality Programs and Inspection; and Stan D. Heath, Office of Radiation Protection, for pilot-scale testing of a state-of-the-art evaporator system for concentrating liquid low-level radioactive storage tank waste at ORNL.
Larry L. Triplett, Biology Division, for exemplary leadership and unprecedented productivity in achieving and sustaining a level of excellence in the Biology Division's Environmental Safety and Health program.
Swati G. Wilson, Office of Safety and Health Protection, for exemplary operational support during 1996 toward ensuring safe work practices associated with confined-space entries at ORNL.
Bill E. Wright, Mary A. Brock, Don L. Holtzclaw, Gary D. Inman, M. Wayne Jessie, J. Larry Lane, Mike D. Mann, David E. Smith, Jerry E. Stooksbury and Teri R. Subich, Instrument and Controls Division, for dedicated and inspired contributions instrumental to the overall success of the Oak Ridge Complex rebadging program, executed by flawless and selfless teamwork.
Secretarial Support: .
Phyllis J. Edmonds, Environmental Sciences Division, as best newcomer for showing initiative to learn quickly and competently and to be an efficient team player while exhibiting professionalism and an outstanding positive attitude.
Brenda W. Campbell, Central Management Offices, for outstanding performance in managing the administrative operations of the Life Sciences and Environmental Technologies directorate during a time of Laboratory and Directorate reorganizations, staff turnover, and expanded responsibilities.
F. Gil Farrell, Research Reactors Division, for sustained excellence in performance of her duties as Reactor Technology Section secretary in the Research Reactors Division.
MANAGEMENT ACHIEVEMENT This award recognizes management contributions to the activities of Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation. Performance characteristics may include exemplary performance in leadership, planning, organization and staffing functions; in dealing effectively with resource limitations and other constraints, meeting or exceeding schedules, attaining mission goals, training and motivating people, and demonstrating support for company values; specific accomplishments during the current year or sustained performance over a long period of time.
Sherrell R. Greene, Engineering Technology Division, for management achievement in leading the U.S. national program for reactor-based disposition of plutonium.
Jim B. Roberto, Solid State Division, for extraordinary efforts in applying his management and leadership skills in the operation of the Solid State Division, in assistance with the Reengineering effort and in his external professional activities.
COMMUNITY SERVICE This award recognizes outstanding and noteworthy performance by employees engaged in volunteer activities that provide significant benefit to the community. Performance characteristics may include considerable personal time devoted by the individual to community involvement, demonstrated dedication and long-term involvement in service to the community, significant contribution to the quality of life in the community, demonstrated and recognized leadership abilities and considerable creativity reflected in the initiation and implementation of projects that improve the community's quality of life.
W. H. (Bill) Elliott Jr., Metals And Ceramics Division, for sustained, outstanding leadership and unselfish dedication to his community as teacher, preacher, coach, sports commissioner and father.
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT This award recognizes the excellence of employee contributions of a technical nature to the activities of Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation. The contribution may involve research, development, engineering, publication or invention. Performance characteristics may include a research or engineering accomplishment that makes a significant contribution to a mainstream activity of Lockheed Martin; an invention with realized or potential value to Lockheed Martin, the government, or other commercial clients; and a significant contribution as the author of a publication appearing in periodicals, proceedings, or books.
Invention: .
Lynn A. Boatner and Ron Feenstra, Solid State Division, for discovering new film-growth substrates and new crystal-growth techniques and for commercializing two products based on ORNL technology.
Emory D. Collins, Chemical Technology Division, and Arnold L. Beets, Russ Knapp and Saed Mirzadeh, Life Sciences Division, for inventing new radioisotope technologies to permit significant environmental and economic improvements for producing technecium-99m for nuclear medicine.
Barbara S. Hoffheins, Instrument and Controls Division; Pam H. Fleming, Solid State Division; and Robert J. Lauf, Metals And Ceramics Division, for conceiving and demonstrating a simple thick-film hydrogen sensor and commercializing the products to manufacture it.
Chris Janke, Engineering Technology Division; George F. Dorsey, Development Division (Energy Systems); Steve Havens, ORISE; and Vince Lopata, Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., for creating major breakthroughs in composite materials processing using electron-beam energy for curing, which resulted in three patent applications and multiple commercial licenses.
Rodney A. McKee, Metals And Ceramics Division, and Fred J. Walker, University of Tennessee, for demonstrating an enabling semiconductor materials technology that has the potential to revolutionize transistor design with million-fold increases in read/write access speed.
Jeff D. Muhs, Engineering Technology Division, for his leadership, perseverance, tenacity and untiring effort toward creating and developing innovative, fiber-optic-based sensors and diagnostics.
Publication: .
Dave P. Allison, Mitch J. Doktycz, Frank W. Larimer, Thomas G. Thundat and Bruce Warmack, Health Sciences Research Division, for a landmark paper on physical mapping of large DNA clones by direct atomic force microscope imaging.
Jeff Blackmon, J. Kirk Dickens, Jack Harvey, Duane C. Larson, Raman Subramanian and Michael S. Smith, Physics Division, for research addressing crucial astrophysical puzzles in the early universe and in the core of our sun.
A. C. Buchanan III, Cheryl A. Biggs, Phillip F. Britt and Kim B. Thomas, Chemical and Analytical Sciences Division, for their published paper that describes the discovery of a novel mechanism for migration of organic radical centers on chemically modified surfaces.
Yang Cheng, Computational Physics and Engineering Division, for his ground-breaking publication of the development of the new Conformal Space Projection and for a new technique employing linear features for registering space and other imagery.
Peter T. Cummings, joint ORNL-UT; Hank D. Cochran, Chemical Technology Division; and Shengting Cui and Sunil A. Gupta, UT, for publication of pioneering calculations on the molecular basis of the rheological properties of the n-alkane constituents of motor oils.
Easo P. George, Lee Heatherly Jr. and C. T. Liu, Metals And Ceramics Division, for outstanding contributions to the scientific understanding of intrinsic and extrinsic mechanical properties of nickel aluminide.
Eli Greenbaum, James W. Lee and Carol V. Tevault, Chemical Technology Division, for the discovery of a new mode of energy transduction in photosynthetic systems.
Ben C. Larson and Jon Z. Tischler, Solid State Division, for the first measurement of short-range electronic exchange-correlation effects in a simple metal.
Steve E. Lindberg, Environmental Sciences Division, for his paper that develops significant new insights into the importance of re-emissions of mercury by forests in biogeochemical mercury cycles.
David E. Newman and Ben A. Carreras, Fusion Energy Division, for pioneering work in the field of dynamics of self-organized criticality in nonlinear systems and application of these concepts to turbulent transport.
Brian C. Sales and Dave G. Mandrus, Solid State Division, and Bob K. Williams, Metals And Ceramics Division, for demonstrating a new approach in the atomic-level design of more-efficient thermoelectric materials.
Ying Xu and Ed C. Uberbacher, Computer Science and Mathematics Division, and Victor N. Olman, UT, for their discovery of a new and very effective way to solve a basic problem in computer vision-the segmentation of an image into regions that correspond to coherent areas or items in the imaged scene.
Zhenyu Zhang, Anna Swan and John F. Wendelken, Solid State Division, for discovering the concerted atomistic process, dimer shearing, as a crucial mechanism for cluster diffusion and dissociation in metal (100) epitaxy.
Research and Development: .
M. M. Agamalian, Ron G. Maples and George D. Wignall, Solid State Division, for dramatic improvements in ultrahigh small-angle neutron scattering (USANS), creating the world's highest sensitivity USANS instrument.
Dave P. Allison, Thomas G. Thundat and Bruce Warmack, Health Sciences Research Division, for establishing an internationally recognized biological scanning probe program at ORNL.
Jim G. Blencoe, Chemical and Analytical Sciences Division, for pioneering the technology for measuring fluid densities at elevated temperatures and pressures-a requirement for obtaining quantitative thermodynamic properties of complex fluid mixtures.
Gerry J. Bunick, Biology Division, for producing high-quality crystals of nucleosomes-the building blocks of chromosomes-in a venture supported by DOE, NIH and NASA.
Dave K. Christen, John D. Budai, Ron Feenstra, Brian C. Sales and David P. Norton, Solid State Division; Don M. Kroeger, Amit Goyal, Ed C. Hatfield, Fred A. List, Patrick M. Martin, Eliot D. Specht and Vinod K. Sikka, Metals and Ceramics Division; Parans Paranthaman and Dave B. Beach, Chemical and Analytical Sciences Division; and Bob A. Hawsey, Central Management Offices, for development of the next generation of superconducting wire based upon rolling-assisted, biaxially textured substrates.
Wally J. McAfee, John W. Bryson Jr., Fred Jackson Sr. and Bill E. Pennell, Engineering Technology Division, and B. Richard Bass, Computational Physics and Engineering Division, for outstanding technical achievement in discovering the effect of biaxial stresses on the shallow-flaw fracture toughness of reactor vessels.
Mike L. Simpson, Bill B. Dress, Nance Ericson, David Sitter and Alan L. Wintenberg of Instrument and Controls Division and Jay Jellison, Solid State Division, for development of the first photo-spectrometer using only the materials, masks and fabrication steps inherent in standard integrated-circuit processes, thus redefining "state of the art" for miniature photo-spectrometers.
Andrea L. Sjoreen, Jess C. Gehin, Rick C. Goldfinger and John-Paul Renier, Computational Physics and Engineering Division; Bennie Lewis Jr., Robotics and Process Systems Division; and Bob H. Morris, Engineering Technology Division, for development of the computer code, HASCAL, which estimates atmospheric dispersion of radioactivity following accidents or terrorist/military incidents at nuclear facilities.
Thomas G. Thundat, Eric A. Wachter and Bruce J. Warmack, Health Sciences Research Division, for establishing an internationally recognized microcantilever sensor program at ORNL with a broad range of applications in environmental, biological and industrial areas.
Steve J. Zinkle, Metals And Ceramics Division, for sustained leadership and outstanding contributions to the field of radiation effects in ceramic materials.
Technical Support: .
Judy M. Butler, Stan P. Cooper, Linda L. Farr, Billy W. Starnes, Karl S. Thomas and Steve A. Wood, Chemical Technology Division, for outstanding efforts to recover radioisotopes from waste material for medical research applications.
Paul A. Menchhofer, Metals And Ceramics Division, for exceptional technical support to ceramics R&D through creativity, initiative, and high productivity in the development of new materials and processes.
George W. Ott Jr. and Cliff P. White, Engineering Technology Division, for significant and consistent contributions to the success of research and development in the Engineering Technology Division's Power Electronics Center-DOE's resource for power electronics research.
W. Kelly Roy, Environmental Sciences Division, for sustained performance and leadership in technical support of research in aquatic toxicity, UV-B radiation, ozone, acid rain and thermal pollution.
ORNL, one of DOE's multiprogram national research and development facilities, is managed by Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation.