News Release
Media Contact: Fred Strohl
Communications and External Relations
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ORNL scientists earn awards during White House ceremony

OAK RIDGE, Tenn., Jan. 22, 1997 — Two scientists at the Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) were honored Dec. 16 at the White House as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers.

Receiving awards were Philip Jardine, a staff research scientist in the Environmental Sciences Division, and Michael Smith, a research staff member in the Physics Division. Thomas Thundat, principal researcher and a member of ORNL Molecular Imaging Group, was nominated for the award. The presidential award recognizes demonstrated excellence and promise of future success in scientific or engineering research.

Jardine, Smith and Thundat were earlier in the day honored at DOE Headquarters in Washington as recipients of DOE's Young Scientists Awards. Those awards are a prerequisite for being nominated for the presidential award.

Jardine earned his awards for meticulous research integrating field and laboratory studies with theoretical concepts that have advanced the understanding of nutrient cycling and contaminant reactions and transport in unsaturated, heterogeneous soils. Jardine has studied the movement of contaminants in rocks and soils since joining ORNL in 1990.

Smith earned his awards for establishing an astrophysics program at the Physics Division's Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility, first facility devoted fully to radioactive ion beam physics, and for contributing to the collection and evaluation of nuclear reaction data applicable to astrophysics phenomena. He joined ORNL in 1993 and has been a group leader since 1994.

Thundat was presented his Young Scientist Award for his pioneering work in establishing and patenting a new class of ultrasensitive micro mechanical sensors applicable to a broad range of environmental, biological and industrial issues. Thundat is a research staffer at ORNL.

Jardine, his wife, Shari, and three children, reside in West Knoxville. He earned a doctorate in soil chemistry and physics from Virginia Tech University .

Smith and his wife, Chang-Hong Yu, have one son and live in West Knoxville. He earned a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Chicago and a doctorate in physics from Yale University.

Thundat and his wife, Marilyn, have one child and reside in West Knoxville. He earned a doctorate in physics from the State University of New York and the Indian Institute of Technology.

ORNL, one of DOE's multiprogram national research and development facilities, is managed by Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corp.

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