Commerce
Secretary Don Evans has presented 23 employees of the Commerce
Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology
and six former employees with Gold and Silver Medal Awardsthe
two highest honor awards presented by the department.
GOLD
MEDALISTS
The
Gold Medal is bestowed for "distinguished performance
characterized by extraordinary, notable or prestigious contributions
that impact the mission of the Department of Commerce and/or
one operating unit and which reflect favorably on the Department."
Awards are given in the following categories: leadership,
personal and professional excellence, scientific/engineering
achievement, employee development, customer service, administrative/technical
support, or public service or heroism.
Leadership
Category
A team
of seven current members and three former staff members
in the Information Technology Laboratory's Computer Security
Division is recognized for conceiving, organizing and leading
a worldwide, multiyear project resulting in the Advanced
Encryption Standard, a new technique for securing the confidentiality
of sensitive, unclassified electronic data well into the
21st century. Strong user confidence in the security of
AES will encourage its rapid deployment in e-commerce and
e-government applications, such as health care and tax records,
multibillion dollar financial transactions, and intellectual
property.
The
team includes:
Elaine
B. Barker, Supervisory Mathematician;
Lawrence
E. Bassham, Computer Scientist;
William E. Burr, Leader, Security Technology
Group;
James
F. Dray, Computer Scientist;
Morris
J. Dworkin, Mathematician
James
R. Nechvatal, Mathematician;
Edward
A. Roback, Chief, Computer Security Division;
and former
employees James G. Foti, Miles E. Smid,
and Juan Soto Jr.
Scientific/Engineering Achievement Category
A team
of four current and three former staff members of the Manufacturing
Engineering Laboratory's Fabrication Technology and Manufacturing
Metrology Divisions is honored for the design, fabrication,
assembly and testing of state-of-the-art encasements for
the U.S. Charters of Freedom documents (the Declaration
of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights).
Working with the National Archives and Records Administration,
the team designed the encasements to meet stringent engineering
constraints and demanding aesthetics. The team developed
on-board instrumentation to provide non-invasive monitoring
of the environment, and novel methods for fabricating and
evaluating the performance of the encasements.
The
team includes:
Robert
A. Clary, Instrument Maker;
Michael
L. McGlauflin, Engineering Technician;
Richard
L. Rhorer, Research Engineer;
Eric
P. Whitenton, Engineering Technician; and former
employees Christopher J. Evans, Manfred
L. Osti, and Charles R. Tilford.
Scientific/Engineering
Achievement Category
A team
of three staff members from the Materials Science and Engineering
Laboratory's Metallurgy Division is honored for the development
of electrochemical measurement and modeling techniques,
and for their contributions to the fundamental understanding
of electrochemical deposition of copper in semiconductor
trenches. This work enables semiconductor manufacturers
to deposit copper on semiconductor chips today that meet
standards requested by the industry for 2008.
The
team includes the following:
Daniel
Josell, Physical Scientist;
Thomas
P. Moffat, Metallurgist; and
Gery
R. Stafford, Supervisory Research Chemist.
SILVER MEDALISTS
The
Silver Medal Award is the second highest honor awarded by
the Department of Commerce. It is bestowed for "exceptional
performance characterized by noteworthy or superlative contributions
that have a direct and lasting impact within the Department."
Awards are given in the following categories: leadership,
personal and professional excellence, scientific/engineering
achievement, employee development, customer service, administrative/technical
support, or public service or heroism.
Leadership Category
Belinda
L. Collins, Deputy Director, Technology Services
Collins
is honored for providing leadership to international standards
and conformity assessment arenas contributing to enhanced
commerce and trade. She brought together the nation's standards
and conformity assessment communities and played a key role
in the development of the National Standards Strategy. She
also has been successful in implementing the National Technology
Transfer and Advancement Act by carrying out its directives
to coordinate standards and conformity assessment activities
within the federal government, the private sector, and state
and local governments.
William
E. Anderson, Director, Electronics and Electrical
Engineering Laboratory
Anderson
is honored for leadership of EEEL through a time of change
and transition. He introduced significant and beneficial
changes in the laboratory's operation. Anderson improved
the effectiveness of the laboratory in its mission of providing
the fundamental electrical standards, measurement services,
test methods and documentary standards that underlie all
electrical measurements in the nation.
Kathleen M. Higgins, Chief, Office of
Law Enforcement Standards, Electronics and Electrical Engineering
Laboratory
Higgins
is honored for revitalizing the OLES in its role of brokering
NIST capabilities to the criminal justice and public safety
communities, ensuring through measurements and standards
that the equipment they purchase and technologies they use
are safe, dependable and effective. The activities Higgins
spearheaded have resulted in greater law enforcement effectiveness
throughout the nation, including helping save more than
2,500 officers' lives through the wearing of body armor
that meets OLES-developed specifications.
Personal and Professional Excellence Category
Christopher
G. Soares, Physicist, Physics Laboratory
Soares
is recognized as the world's leading authority on measurements
of beta-particle-emitting radioactive sources for use in
radiation therapy. He developed primary standards and test
methods for use in clinical medical physics. He worked with
industry and the medical physics community on the dosimetry
methods that allow these sources to be used for intravascular
therapy to inhibit restenosis (re-closing) of arteries after
balloon angioplasty procedures. His work has established
NIST as a world leader in the dosimetry of therapeutic beta-particle
sources.
Scientific/Engineering Achievement Category
A team
of two staff members in the Building and Fire Research Laboratory's
Fire Research Division is honored for development of the
companion software products, Fire Dynamic Simulator and
Smokeview. This unique software package has radically advanced
the state of the art in computer modeling of fire and smoke.
The team includes:
Glenn
P. Forney, Computer Scientist; and Kevin
B. McGrattan, Mathematician.
Scientific/Engineering Achievement Category
A team
of three staff members in the Building and Fire Research
Laboratory's Structures Division is honored for breakthrough
achievement in precise concrete design and construction
to withstand extreme earthquake loads through measurement
research and industry impact. The team developed an innovative
system to connect precast beams to columns that permits,
for the first time, the use of precast concrete building
systems in high-seismic regions. The system has proven to
reduce costs and is rapidly gaining acceptance in the industry.
The
team of three includes:
Geraldine
S. Cheok, Research Structural Engineer;
Hai
S. Lew, Research Structural Engineer; and
William
C. Stone, Supervisory Research Structural Engineer.
As
a non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce's
Technology Administration, NIST develops and promotes measurements,
standards, and technology to enhance productivity, facilitate
trade, and improve the quality of life.
For
more information on NIST, see our web site at www.nist.gov.
To explore a century of NIST partnerships with U.S. industry,
benefits to the public and impacts on economic growth, go
to the NIST centennial (1901-2001) web site at www.100.nist.gov.
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