The awards will be presented Friday, July 12 during a White House ceremony.
The honorees are Vince Cianciolo of ORNL's Physics Division, Ian Anderson of the Metals and Ceramics Division and Jizhong Zhou of the Environmental Sciences Division.
Cianciolo is the fourth researcher from ORNL's Physics Division to earn the award since its inception in 1996. ORNL researchers have won 10 of these awards.
The awards are the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their careers.
Cianciolo has been a research physicist in ORNL's Physics Division since 1997. He earned a bachelor's degree with honors in physics from the University of Michigan and a doctorate in physics from MIT.
Cianciolo's award is "for developing a scientific program and detector instrumentation for experiments at the Brookhaven National Laboratory to understand the existence of quark-gluon plasma."
Cianciolo and his wife, Maureen, have three children and live in West Knoxville.
Zhou is senior staff scientist in ORNL's Environmental Sciences Division. He earned a master's degree in mathematical ecology and a doctorate in molecular biology from Washington State University. Zhou is also a former Alexander Hollaender Fellow working with the Environmental Sciences Division.
Zhou's award is "for pioneering research and leadership in functional genomics and microbial ecology through the application of genomic technologies to address complex environmental problems."
Zhou and his wife, Cindy Shi, have three children and live in Oak Ridge.
Anderson is a group leader in ORNL's Metals and Ceramics Division. He earned a bachelor's degree in applied physics from the California Institute of Technology, masters degrees in engineering physics and applied physics, and a doctorate in applied physics from Cornell University.
Prior to joining ORNL, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Oak Ridge Associated Universities.
Anderson's award is "for his leading-edge research in the development of electron beam microcharacterization techniques and their application to materials research and development."
Anderson and his wife, Letty, are residents of Knoxville.
The three previous award winners in ORNL's Physics Division are Michael Smith in 1996, David Dean in 1997 and Anthony Mezzacappa in 1998.
Smith earned his award, for instituting a strong nuclear astrophysics research program, specifically utilizing radioactive beams.
Dean earned his award for research in the field of nuclear structure physics.
Mezzacappa was recognized for his work identifying the explosive mechanism of core-collapse supernovae.
Other previous winners from ORNL are:.
- David E. Newman, Fusion Energy Division, 1997, for seminal contributions to the theoretical understanding of turbulence and transport in magnetic fusion devices.
- Phillip M. Jardine, Environmental Sciences Division, 1998, for studies relating to mobility of chemicals in subsurface, heterogeneous soil and rock systems.
- James W. Lee, Chemical Technology Division, 1998, for seminal contributions to photosynthesis research and its application to nanofabrication.
- Lynn E. Parker, Computer Science and Mathematics Division, 1999, for exceptional research and national leadership in the area of heterogeneous multi-robot cooperation.
ORNL is a multiprogram science and technology laboratory managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.