Awards
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The Department of Energy (DOE) Project Leader Institute (PLI) selected Livermore scientists Lara Leininger and Al Churby as 2022 cohort members based on project performance and technical program leadership. Leininger leads an array of projects as the Laboratory’s Energetic Materials Center director and has led multi-institutional research in high-energy-density physics and explosives. Churby heads Livermore’s contribution to the Advanced Sources and Detectors project, a joint effort of DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration to achieve next-generation x-ray images of subcritical experiments. PLI participants undertake DOE-administered leadership training with instructional resources from Stanford University.
Principal Associate Director for Global Security Huban Gowadia was inducted into the 2022 State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame. Gowadia earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Alabama and a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Pennsylvania State University. Gowadia served as acting administrator of the Transportation Security Administration before joining the Laboratory in 2018. Now heading Livermore’s Global Security principal directorate, Gowadia manages intelligence, cybersecurity, nonproliferation, and counterterrorism programs with more than 1,200 matrixed employees.
Livermore scientists were inducted into the Laboratory’s Entrepreneurs’ Hall of Fame, recognizing research that generated significant economic impact and new enterprise. Materials researcher Natalia Zaitseva developed rapid crystal growth methods for optical components critical to National Ignition Facility operations and crystalline structures used in radiation detection. Physicist Mary Spaeth developed and applied tunable dye lasers to produce enriched uranium, a process the U.S. Enrichment Corporation acquired. Physicist Tony Ruggiero founded Sierra Photonics, later acquired by Google, based on his work in free-space optical communication with ultrahigh bandwidth lasers.
Employees in Lawrence Livermore’s Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO) were recognized by the Department of Energy’s Technology Transfer Working Group. IPO business development executive Annamarie Meike received the Innovative Lab Technology Transfer award for her work securing collaboration between Livermore and science and technology company Millipore Sigma to commercialize next-generation inks for printed device construction. Digital Assets Coordinator Mary Holden-Sanchez garnered a Best in Class licensing award for her work on Livermore’s Numerical Electromagnetic Code Antenna Modeling Software, Livermore’s most licensed software to date.
