People
C. Edward Oliver is the new Associate Director of the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research, effective August 15, 1999. Oliver joins the Office of Science from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory where he was the Associate Laboratory Director for Computing, Robotics and Education. He brings the knowledge and expertise of the computing environment from the Federal and laboratory perspectives.
Jillian Banfield, University of Wisconsin, Juan Maldacena, Harvard University, and Eva Silverstein, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), were recently named 1999 MacArthur Fellows. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellows Program provides unrestricted fellowships to individuals who have shown evidence of originality, dedication to creative pursuits and capacity for self-direction.
Banfield's research concerns the chemical and biological environments microbes create by interactions with mineral surfaces. The results will provide insight into interactions between cells, ions in solution and mineral surfaces with relevance to geochemical models for near-surface processes and climate-weathering feedback. Her research will also identify organisms at the species level by DNA sequencing and metabolic characterization, and culture/isolate relevant organisms for experimental and detailed organic analyses. Banfield has been funded by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences Geosciences Research Program.
Maldacena's work in the highly abstract field of string theory has clarified thorny problems in theoretical physics, including the ultimate structure of matter. His graduate work showed how radiation from a black hole can be explained within the context of string theory and holds important implications for understanding gravity. More recently, he postulated a critical theoretical link between the 4-dimensional structure of quantum chromodynamics and a 10-dimensional theory based on strings. This work holds out the promise of a "grand unification" of all known physical forces. Maldacena is supported by the Office of High Energy Physics.
Silverstein's work at SLAC questions fundamental assumptions of physics theory. In collaboration with Shamit Kachru, University of California, Berkeley, she is linking recent theories of particle physics and cosmology, exploring the relationships between the cosmological constant (a concept that originated with Einstein's general theory of relativity) and more recent explanations of particle physics based on string theory. These studies provide key insights into the age, structure, dynamics and eventual fate of the universe.
Darleane Hoffman, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley, will receive the Priestley Medal, the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society (ACS), at the San Francisco ACS meeting in March 2000. She is only the second woman to receive this award which recognizes distinguished service to chemistry. Hoffman is an internationally recognized expert in nuclear and radiochemistry, particularly the chemistry of transuranic elements. Her accomplishments include the discovery of plutonium-244 in nature and development of "atom-at-a-time" techniques for studying heavy elements with half-lives measured in minutes or less. This work included chemical studies of element 105 and the first investigations of the chemistry of element 106, seaborgium.
A new international prize in applied mathematics, the Maxwell Prize, was awarded to Grigory Isaakovich Barenblatt, University of California, Berkeley, in Edinburgh. The Prize was established by the International Congress on Industrial and Applied Mathematics and the James Clerk Maxwell Foundation. Barenblatt is known for his analysis of problems dominated by complexity, such as turbulence, failure and cracks in solids, flow in porous and inhomogeneous media and combustion. His work on crack formation provided some of the basic tools used today in failure analysis. Barenblatt's work is funded by the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research.
Donald DePaolo, University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, was awarded the Day Medal from the Geological Society of America, "for outstanding distinction in contributing to geologic knowledge through the application of physics and chemistry to the solution of geologic problems." DePaolo established the Center for Isotope Geochemistry with support from the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Geosciences Research Program. His research focuses on using isotopic distributions in minerals and water to understand the origin and evolution of mineral-fluid systems and their interactions.
George Wignall and Michael Agamalian, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will receive the 1999 International Society for Measurement and Control's Arnold O. Beckerman Founder Award "for significant development in the area of ultrahigh resolution small-angle scattering diffractometers resulting in major improvements in signal-to-noise ratio" in Philadelphia in October. Wignall and Agamalian are supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences Division of Materials Sciences. Wignall also received the Paul W. Schmidt Memorial Award in May. The award, given by the University of Palermo, Italy, recognizes his significant technical contributions to the 11th International Conference on Small-Angle Neutron Scattering and for major contributions to the field of small-angle neutron scattering.
State University of New York-Buffalo professor Frank Bright received the 1999 Buck-Whitney Medal from the American Chemical Society for outstanding contributions in chemistry. Bright's work on solvation in supercritical fluids is supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences Division of Chemical Sciences.
Kalman Pelhos, Rutgers University, recently received the Nottingham Prize for the best student paper presented at the American Physical Society's Physical Electronics Conference. Pelhos was supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences Division of Chemical Sciences during his thesis research. His talk was "Nucleation and Growth during faceting of the Pt covered W(111) surface."
Richard LeSar, Los Alamos National Laboratory, will serve as co-editor of Elsevier Science's journal Computational Materials Science, with Risto Nieminen of Helsinki University. LeSar's responsibilities include setting directions for the journal and giving final approval for papers submitted to him as editor.
University of Colorado doctoral student, Brett Espry, who recently completed degree work based on research supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences Division of Chemical Sciences, is co-recipient of the American Physical Society's 1999 Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Award. His thesis was titled "Many Body Effects in Bose Einstein Condensates in Dilute Atomic Gases." Espry has accepted a faculty position at the Kansas State University.
Todd Palmer, Pennsylvania State University, won the 1999 ASM International Graduate Student Paper Contest for his research paper entitled "A Study of Nitrogen Dissolution into the Weld Metal During Arc Welding." The award will be presented during the ASM annual meeting in Cincinnati in November. Palmer has been supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences Division of Materials Sciences.
Pennsylvania State University professor Tarasankar DebRoy has been named a Fellow of the American Welding Society on the basis of his "significant contributions to the quantitative understanding of weld metal geometry, chemical composition, and structure; for exhibiting eagerness and enthusiasm for welding research, his willingness to help students both inside and outside classroom, and for his natural ability to encourage and motivate others to excel." DebRoy has been supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences Division of Materials Sciences.
The Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES) presented the first Peer Excellence Award to Ronald McKnight for his efforts in helping to establish a national research team for the National Spherical Torus Experiment. OFES is piloting the Peer Excellence Award program for the Office of Science.
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) researchers Bill Foster and Gerry Jackson recently received the Particle Accelerator Science and Technology Award of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers. They were cited for their leading roles in applying energy-saving permanent-magnet technology to Fermilab's new 8-GeV Line and Recycler.
Mark Strikman, Pennsylvania State University, has received the Humboldt Research Award for Senior U.S. Scientists in recognition of his accomplishments in research and teaching. The award entitles Strikman to stay for a period of 12 months at a research institute of his choice in Germany.
Jerry Garrett, scientific director for the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF), died suddenly August 3. A renowned world expert on gamma-ray spectroscopy, he came to Oak Ridge in 1988 after spending 14 years at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. Garrett worked tirelessly to promote radioactive ion beam physics, not only at the HRIBF, but also nationally and internationally
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory director Rob Goldston accepted the Small Business Administration's Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for Excellence on behalf of the Laboratory during the Annual Joint Industry/SBA Procurement Conference held in Washington, D.C. June 10. The award recognizes large business contractors that have excelled in their use of small businesses subcontractors. The Laboratory was the best of 2500 large research and development companies nominated.
A joint Fermi Group and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory committee won a 1999 Federal Energy and Water Management Award for successfully competing and awarding an alternative financing agreement to retrofit the central cooling systems at Fermilab. The project replaced worn and inefficient CFC chillers with modern energy efficient chillers, which comply with all environmental standards. The total system was operational in May 1999. John Chapman led the committee that drafted the contract language, which is currently being used as a model for similar work throughout the DOE complex.
Robert Smith, Idaho National Engineering and Environment Laboratory (INEEL), has received a 1999 NOVA award from Lockheed Martin, parent company of Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company. The award recognizes individuals for achievements in different areas of science and technology. Smith's award is for fostering collaboration between INEEL and the university community, his interdisciplinary investigations of subsurface processes and his work at INEEL's Test Area North, a contaminated site historically used for nuclear waste storage and handling. Smith has received Office of Biological and Environmental Research support in biogeochemistry for more than a decade.
Office of Science research microbiologist David Balkwill recently received Florida State University's Distinguished Research Professor Award, given to faculty who have made outstanding research contributions over an extended period. The effectiveness of Balkwill's teaching ability and the manner in which he organizes his courses are reportedly "legendary" among FSU students. He is curator of DOE's Subsurface Microbiology Culture Collection.
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