Experimental physicist Tammy Ma, National Ignition Facility (NIF) division leader Lisa Belk, and research engineer Monica Moya were highlighted in Diablo Magazine’s 2016 “Forty Under Forty” issue. The annual list recognizes young professionals in California’s San Francisco East Bay area who are leaders in their fields.
Ma was recognized for her work developing and executing experiments aimed at creating sustained fusion at NIF. Belk was honored for heading a team of more than 80 people who provide computation support to national security, discovery science, and energy security missions at NIF. Moya received acknowledgement for her work using three-dimensional printing to create tubes made from human cells and biomaterial that guide small blood vessel development. Her research is part of a larger effort to develop a way of predicting the body’s response to chemical agents without human or animal testing.
Retired Air Force General Larry Welch became the second recipient of the John S. Foster Jr. Medal. Established by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, and bestowed annually by the director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 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.
Welch has been dedicated to serving the nation since 1951 and remains active in service, even in retirement. His distinguished career is highlighted by four years of service as the 12th Chief of Staff of the Unites States Air Force. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1986 to 1990, he served as one of the principal military advisers to the secretary of defense, the National Security Council, and the U.S. president. Welch also served as commander in chief of the Strategic Air Command from 1985 to 1986, responsible for operational planning for all U.S. strategic nuclear systems.
Now retired, Welch continues to serve the nation as a senior fellow of the Institute for Defense Analyses, a federally chartered research center providing operations and technical analysis for the Department of Defense and other U.S. government agencies. He led the institute as president and CEO from 1991 to 2003 and again from 2006 to 2009.
The Meteoritical Society honored Livermore researchers Carolyn Crow and Greg Brennecka during their annual meeting in Berlin, Germany. Crow, a postdoctoral researcher in the Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division who studies impact signatures recorded in lunar and terrestrial zircons, won the Gordon A. McKay Award for her presentation on methods of using lunar zircon crystals to measure the magmatic and impact histories of the Moon, especially the formation histories of large basins. The award is given to the society member who is a full-time student and gives the best oral presentation at the Meteoritic Society’s annual meeting.
Brennecka, now at the Institute for Planetology at the University of Munster, studies the importance of supernovae in the early solar system. He was awarded the Nier Prize for his research on isotopic variations in meteorites and the chronology of the solar system. The Nier Prize recognizes outstanding research in meteoritics for scientists under 35 years old. His work with fellow Livermore scientists Lars Borg and the late Ian Hutcheon led to an understanding of why uranium isotopes vary on Earth and also to the discovery of variations in uranium isotopes in meteorites, which was previously thought to not exist. This discovery changed the way the solar system’s age is calculated.