Nerine Cherepy was selected as a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)—the world’s largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence. Only 7 percent of IEEE members attain the level of senior member, which requires at least 10 years of professional experience and significant contributions, achievements, publications, and course development or technical direction in IEEE-designated fields. Cherepy’s most notable contributions have been in the field of radiation detectors and detection materials. She and her team have discovered two new scintillator materials with breakthrough performance for gamma-ray spectroscopy.
Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Ernest Moniz has awarded six Lawrence Livermore scientists with DOE Secretarial Honor Awards. This award is the department’s highest form of nonmonetary employee recognition and is bestowed upon DOE employees for their career service and contributions to the mission of the department and to the benefit of the nation.
Livermore climate scientist David Bader was recognized for his leadership of the Accelerated Climate Modeling for Energy (ACME) project—a multi-institutional effort involving eight DOE national laboratories, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, four academic institutions, and one private-sector company. ACME is intended to accelerate the development and application of fully coupled, state-of-the-science Earth-system models for scientific and energy applications.
Aaron Miles and Deborah Wojtowiez of the Weapons Complex and Integration Principal Directorate, and Gregory DiPeso, Dale Darling, and James Wolford of the Global Security Principal Directorate, all received recognition for their participation in the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence Analytic Team. The Laboratory scientists were cited for their contributions to a technically challenging and high-priority Intelligence Community Assessment, the results of which will directly affect DOE and National Nuclear Security Administration policy and budgetary decisions.
Lawrence Livermore’s Yunyan Zhang, a climate scientist within the Laboratory’s Atmospheric, Earth, and Energy Division, has earned $2.5 million for her research to improve the understanding of how soil moisture and surface diversity affect cloud formation and precipitation. As the recipient of the Department of Energy Early Career Research Program, Zhang will receive $500,000 for five years to support the development of her research. Zhang’s specific interests include clouds and convection, low-cloud climate feedback, aerosol indirect effect, and land–atmosphere interaction. DOE’s Early Career Research Program is designed to bolster the nation’s scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early career years, when many scientists do their most formative work.
Lawrence Livermore researchers Tiziana Bond and Jean Michel Di Nicola were recently named senior members of the Optical Society (OSA), an international society for optics and photonics scientists, engineers, educators, and business leaders. Senior membership status recognizes members with more than 10 years of significant experience and professional accomplishments or service in their fields.
Bond is a senior engineer and capability leader in the Laboratory’s Engineering Directorate and currently works on laser modeling, image post processing, and operation support for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and Photon Science Principal Directorate within the Laser Modeling and Analysis Group. Her work focuses on enabling nanotechnology for small form-factor chem–bio sensors and enhanced energy harvesting and generation exploiting new areas of plasmonics, metamaterials, and surface-enhanced Raman and infrared spectroscopies. Di Nicola, a research scientist and acting group leader for the Laser Modeling and Analysis Group, works with NIF, the Advanced Radiographic Capability, and the High-Repetition-Rate Advanced Petawatt Laser System, and also develops laser codes. Di Nicola’s research expertise is in laser physics, nonlinear optics, and laser modeling of high energy and high-peak-power lasers.