Betty F. Maskewitz, a former employee of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, who worked primarily in the areas of engineering physics and the information sciences, has earned the 2003 Weinberg Medal from the American Nuclear Society.
The award was established in 1995 to honor former ORNL Director Alvin M. Weinberg and to provide international recognition for contributions to the understanding of the social implications of nuclear technology.
Maskewitz's award recognizes a career devoted to effectively sharing radiation shielding technology throughout the world as a means of exploiting nuclear energy for the benefit of mankind.
Employed at Oak Ridge's Department of Energy facilities from 1952 until her retirement in 1988, Maskewitz worked in various areas of data processing and computational support. She is an internationally recognized specialist in the fields of information sciences and engineering physics.
Following concepts suggested by Weinberg, Maskewitz co-founded and later directed the Radiation Shielding Information and Computational Center, an international institute currently known as the Radiation Safety Information and Computation Center.
Maskewitz also formed the ORNL Engineering Physics Information Centers an umbrella organization for spin-off centers in biomedical applications, energy-economy modeling, climate research, reactor safety research data and technical data management. Maskewitz, a member of the American Nuclear Society since 1963, was named an ANS fellow in 1983. She served on the board of directors and on several technical committees. She has also served on boards of various scientific organizations in her areas of interest.
Maskewitz received a bachelor's degree in sociology from Berea College in Kentucky and later continued her education, with an emphasis on mathematics and business administration, mainly at the University of Tennessee
She is the mother of three children and has six grandchildren.
Her husband, Mendel, is deceased.
ORNL is a multiprogram science and technology laboratory managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.