The American Physical Society (APS) has selected ten Laboratory scientists as APS Fellows in 2014.
Physicist Michael Armstrong was cited by the Topical Group on Instrument and Measurement Science for “outstanding contributions to time-domain experimental methods applied to materials under extreme conditions.”
Chris Barty, chief technology officer for the National Ignition Facility and Photon Science Principal Directorate, was recognized by the Division of Laser Science for “pioneering contributions to the advancement of ultrahigh-intensity laser science and to the development of laser-based X-ray and gamma-ray science.”
Physicist Ray Beach was acclaimed by the Division of Laser Science for “seminal contributions to high-average-power diode-end-pumped lasers, including many breakthroughs, widely adopted by the laser community, that have helped push such lasers to higher average powers and efficiencies, and for leadership in developing diode-pumped alkali-vapor lasers, and models for coherent and incoherent photon echoes.”
Physicist Debbie Callahan was honored by the Division of Plasma Physics for “innovative design and modeling of hohlraums for inertial confinement fusion and leadership in the execution of hohlraum experiments on the National Ignition Facility.”
Tony Gonis, an expert in theoretical solid-state physics, was acknowledged by the Division of Computational Physics for “advancing multiple scattering theory electronic structure methods for metals, alloys and interfaces and for the dissemination of these techniques in condensed matter and materials science.”
Physicist Frederic Hartemann was selected by the Division of Physics of Beams for “remarkable insights and significant contributions to the physics of coherent radiation interacting with relativistic electrons.”
Physicist Nobuhiko Izumiz was cited by the Topical Group on Instrument and Measurement Science for “outstanding contributions to the development of novel neutron and X-ray diagnostic capabilities for inertial confinement fusion experiments.”
Robert Rudd, group leader for Computational Materials Science in the Condensed Matter and Materials Division, was cited by the Division of Computational Physics for “seminal contributions to multiscale modeling of materials physics and science in support of national security.”
Scientist James Tobin was recognized by the Division of Condensed Matter Physics for the “use of soft X-ray spectroscopy to investigate complex systems, including actinide-based materials.”
Scientist Yinmin (Morris) Wang was honored by the Division of Materials Physics for “his major contributions to the understanding of deformation physics of nanocrystalline and nanotwinned materials, and for developing effective strategies to enhance the ductility of these superstrong materials for technological applications, including fusion energy targets.”
Each year, no more than one-half of 1 percent of the current APS membership is recognized by their peers through election to the status of fellow. APS fellowship recognizes members who have made advances in knowledge through original research and publication or those who have made significant and innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology. APS fellows also may have made significant contributions to the teaching of physics or service and participation in the activities of the society.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has received a Sustainability Award from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in the water category of the award’s Environmental Stewardship division. NNSA gives 15 Sustainability Awards each year to its national labs and sites to recognize exemplary individual and team performance in advancing sustainability objectives through innovative and effective programs and projects that increase energy, water, and fleet efficiency and reduce greenhouse gases, pollution, and waste. The Laboratory was recognized for its water conservation plan.
Former Laboratory engineering associate director Steve Patterson has received the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society for Precision Engineering. The lifetime achievement award is designated to those individuals who, over the span of their careers, made a significant impact to the science and discipline of precision engineering. Patterson received the award for his contributions to precision machine design, diamond turning machine control, and ultraprecision dimensional measurement.
Four former Lawrence Livermore researchers—Martin Casado, Bill Colston, Fred Milanovich, and David Tuckerman—were inducted into the Lawrence Livermore’s Entrepreneurs’ Hall of Fame (EHF). The researchers, who represent the second “class” of inductees into the Laboratory’s EHF, were honored for developing technologies during or after their Laboratory careers that created major economic impacts and spawned influential companies.
Collectively, this year’s four inductees started three different companies. Casado and his team founded Nicira Networks, a company that developed computer applications for software-defined networking and network virtualization. In 2012, the firm was purchased by VMware.
In 2008, Bill Colston and Fred Milanovich founded QuantaLife, Inc., a company focused on deploying sensitive and accurate genetic testing technology. In 2011, Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc., a biomedical technology company, purchased QuantaLife.
Tuckerman cofounded nCHIP, Inc., in 1989, a technology company that developed enhanced microchips and multichip module systems. In 1995, nCHIP was purchased by Flextronics International Ltd.
“These kinds of contributions and success stories are one of the best measures of the innovation that comes out of the Laboratory and the way we approach our mission with an eye to innovation,” says Laboratory Director Bill Goldstein. Livermore established the EHF to recognize current or former employees who have made major contributions to the United States through their inventiveness and entrepreneurial work in and with the private sector.
Matthew Levy, a Lawrence scholar in the Physics Division at Lawrence Livermore, has been awarded the prestigious Newton International Fellowship by the Royal Society of the United Kingdom. “Matthew has been identified as one of America’s brightest theoretical plasma physicists to have graduated in the past decade,” says Peter Norreys, Levy’s sponsor and professor of inertial fusion science at the University of Oxford and Plasma Physics group leader at the Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
The highly competitive fellowship program makes 40 awards per year across all disciplines of the sciences and humanities, providing the opportunity for the best early-stage postdoctoral researchers to work at United Kingdom research institutions for a two-year period. Levy is the first American physicist to become a Newton fellow and will carry out his research at the University of Oxford.