Victor Reis, former senior adviser in the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of the Secretary and Undersecretaries, became the third recipient of the John S. Foster Jr. Medal. Established by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, and bestowed annually by the director of Lawrence Livermore, the medal recognizes an individual for exceptional leadership in scientific, technical, and engineering development and policy formulation in support of U.S. nuclear security objectives. Reis was recognized for his significant contributions to national security; his innovative leadership in science and technology; and dedication to national service, particularly for guiding the nation’s nuclear program through the end of underground testing. Reis spent more than 50 years in government and private industry in service to national security. He held leadership positions in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the U.S. Departments of Defense (DOD) and Energy (DOE). As the DOE assistant secretary for Defense Programs, he defined his legacy as the architect and original sponsor of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s science-based Stockpile Stewardship Program. In addition to the John S. Foster Jr. Medal, Reis also has received DOE’s James Schlesinger Medal and two DOD Medals for Distinguished Public Service.
At the international SC17 conference, a High Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) project aimed at improving the operational efficiency of paper manufacturers earned an HPC Innovation Excellence Award. The project, led by Livermore researcher Will Elmer, was a collaboration with consumer goods manufacturer Procter & Gamble and required the development of a parallel program called p-fiber. The program is capable of quickly preparing the fiber geometry and meshing input needed to model thousands of paper fibers at once. As part of the HPC4Mfg effort, Elmer and team generated up to 20 million finite elements and modeled the most paper fibers in a simulation to date. At SC17, HPC Innovation Excellence awards were presented for only 10 projects out of more than 110 submissions. The award recognizes outstanding achievements enabled through HPC.
Charles Orth, a Lawrence Livermore physicist for more than 40 years, was presented with the 2017 Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by the publication Marquis Who’s Who, a directory of short biographies of notable figures. The publication bestows the award on a biographee who has demonstrated “leadership, excellence, and longevity within their industry and profession.” Orth has been involved in a broad range of research, including the negative search for quarks, high-altitude cosmic-ray spectrometry, Monte Carlo nuclear electromagnetic cascade calculations, and real-time corrected telescope images, as well as extensive work in the National Ignition Facility. Orth also was directly involved with the joint Livermore–NASA project to conceptualize the VISTA spacecraft, a rocket design that could be powered by inertial confinement fusion.