October 08 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine

2007 Distinguished Performance Award winners selected

Large team awards

Advanced Single Photon Imager Research and Engineering Team members are Jeff Bloch, Steve Buck, Leo Chavez, Rose Des Georges, Miles Hindman, Cheng Ho, Gina Lujan, Ignacio Medina, Jacquelyn Mondragon, Paul Montano, William Murray, David Palmer, Michael Rabin, Dennis Remelius, Robert Shirey, David Thompson, Joe Tiee, Mike Ulibarri, Peter Walsh, Stephen Whittemore, and Kerry Wilson (not listed in order shown in picture). Photo by Dixon Wolf

Advanced Single Photon Imager Research and Engineering Team

The Advanced Single Photon Imager Research and Engineering (ASPIRE) Team, under the sponsorship of the National Nuclear Security Administration, developed and demonstrated systems for imaging scenes under extreme low-light conditions. These imaging systems are for scientific and national security applications.

Composed of personnel from multiple Laboratory divisions and groups, the team miniaturized the technology, made it rugged enough for field use, and delivered it in a customer-friendly package. The team also prepared the technology for deployment on a greatly accelerated schedule to address high-priority national problems.

At the same time, the team prepared a dedicated system for the Air Force Research Laboratory and delivered it for a joint demonstration of emerging capabilities in space situational awareness.

The team members’ skill in system development and integration, advanced capability development, and field deployment brought great credit to Los Alamos.

Detonator Powder Aging Team members are Jose Archuleta, Geoff Brown, Dave Ceman, Anna Giambra, Greg Gravener, Paul Gray, Dennis Jaramillo, John Kramer, Ken Laintz, Gary Liechty, Aaron Martinez, Gerard Martinez, Karen Mehlin, Deirdre Monroe, Paul Peterson, Chris Quihuis, Edward Roemer, Mary Sandstrom, Mary Timmers, Albert Torres, Alyson Wilson, and Richard Yactor (not listed in order shown in picture). Photo by Dixon Wolf

Detonator Powder Aging Team

A comprehensive scientific understanding of the explosive used in weapon detonators is needed for making predictive lifetime performance assessments. The Detonator Powder Aging Team evaluated powders currently used in weapon detonators and developed approaches for making lifetime performance predictions.

The team’s efforts, led by Detonator Technology, involved artificially aging powder and detonator samples, performing chemical and physical analyses, and testing for detonation performance. Team members also did exhaustive reviews of past work because all the powders in the current stockpile were processed more than 20 years ago. Their work has produced a scientifically defensible conceptual model of detonator powder aging and has improved the Laboratory’s fundamental understanding of explosive powder characteristics as related to detonator performance.

The work of this team has contributed significantly to stockpile stewardship and has generated knowledge that will be critically important in the processing of new powders for detonators currently in production at Los Alamos.

National Technical Nuclear Forensics (Attribution) Simulation Team

This team established a simulation code capability for determining the design technology, materials, and possibly even the source of any nuclear weapon used against the United States or its allies. Various agencies, especially the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, NNSA, and the Department of Homeland Security, have needed a solution to this inverse problem in order to establish a full operational capability to perform nuclear forensics.

Team members, representing eight Laboratory divisions, surmounted substantial scientific challenges. They completed first-ever measurements of americium cross sections, which play an important role in determining the properties of a plutonium-based device. In addition, they made significant advances in simulation codes for addressing nuclear devices whose designs likely reflect a far lower level of technology than that found in our own weapons.

The capabilities this team established performed outstandingly well in a blind exercise in February, proving that Los Alamos has the lead expertise in nuclear forensics.

Pit Manufacturing Quality Acceptance Team members are Duane Crapser, Mikael Lackner, Kathi Lindsay, Lauraine Maness, Sue Mathiasmeier, Randall McClaskey, Timothy Milligan, Brett Ray, Mary Remerowski, Alfredo Rey, and Douglas Wedman (not listed in order shown in picture). Photo by Mick Greenbank

Pit Manufacturing Quality Acceptance Team

More than 800 people participated in meeting the Level 1 milestones for the Pit Manufacturing and Certification campaigns to deliver a diamond-stamped pit to Pantex and to build and accept 10 pits. The efforts of the Quality Acceptance Team, a subteam of the Pit Manufacturing Team, stand out with exceptional clarity.

This team improved the process of reviewing, correcting, and accepting the quality paperwork and accepting the newly manufactured pits into the stockpile. The improvements reduced the quality acceptance time from three months to less than one month. By the end of 2007, quality acceptance was never the cause of a production delay, and that efficiency contributed significantly to the unprecedented production rate of seven pits built in nine weeks.

The team’s work has resulted in a series of lessons learned and best practices that have been incorporated into the pit-manufacturing product flow stream and that will revolutionize and improve the quality and capacity of pit manufacturing at the Laboratory.

Radiography Team members are Blaine Asay, Joe Bainbridge, Leo Bitteker, Jr., Curt Bronkhorst, Debbie Clark, David Clark, Michael Duran, Camilo Espinoza, Michael Furlanetto, Lisa Garner, Steve Greene, Charles Hall, Gary Hogan, Brian Hollander, David Holtkamp, Albert Hsu, David Huerta, Jack Huttenburg, Nicholas King, Kris Kwiatkowski, Robert Lopez, Julian Lopez, Eric Lopez, Jerry Lugo, Feeseha Mariam, Mark Marr-Lyon, Wendy McNeil, Frank Merrill, Kevin Morley, Chris Morris, Matthew Murray, Paul Nedrow, Gail Onyegbula, Michael Osborn, Paul Rightley, Tanya Salazar, Andy Saunders, Cynthia Schwartz, Joe Stone, Lenny Tabaka, Lee Thompson, Neil Thompson, Dale Tupa, and Walter Tuzel (not listed in order shown in picture). Photo by Dixon Wolf

Radiography Team

The Radiography Team planned and performed three successful dynamic plutonium experiments using proton radiography (pRad) at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center pRad facility, collecting 37 radiographs of each dynamic experiment.

Such experiments must meet stringent safety requirements. To meet those requirements and gain NNSA work approval, team members designed the tests with extensive and robust engineering controls. In addition, two confirmatory shots were performed with surrogate material in advance of the experiments, and an extensive management self-assessment was conducted to ensure the safety of workers and the public.

The experiments brought a new experimental capability to LANSCE’s pRad facility and provided important data for the nuclear weapons program. The fact that such data were delivered and the experiments were performed safely and securely is a testament to this team’s expertise and to the skill, care, and cooperation of many Laboratory divisions.

Roadrunner System Integration and Technical Assessment Team members are Brian Albright, Kevin Barker, John Bent, Benjamin Bergen, Kevin Bowers, Todd Bowman, Jeffrey Brown, Ralph Castain, John Cerutti, Mark Chadwick, Hsing-Bung Chen, Susan Coulter, David Daniel, Nathan Debardeleben, Nehal Desai, Guy Dimonte, Andrew Dubois, David Dubois, Charles Ferenbaugh, Parks Fields, Timothy Germann, Gary Grider, Daryl Grunau, David Gunter, Paul Henning, Adolfy Hoisie, Laura Hughes, Craig Idler, Jeff Inman, Timothy Kelley, Darren Kerbyson, Ken Koch, Thomas Kwan, Michael Lang, Josip Loncaric, Kei Marion Davis, Benjamin McClelland, Patrick McCormick, Michael McKay, Allen McPherson, Amy Meilander, Jamal Mohd-Yusof, David Montoya, Terri Morris, James Nunez, Scott Pakin, Georgia Pedicini, Meghan Quist, Craig Rasmussen, Randal Rheinheimer, Denny Rice, Bill Rust, Andrew Shewmaker, Randall Smith, Sriram Swaminarayan, Wayne Sweatt, Martin Torrey, Justin Tripp, John Turner, Robert Villa, Robert Webster, Chuck Wilder, and Lin Yin (not listed in order shown in picture). Photo by Dixon Wolf

Roadrunner System Integration and Technical Assessment Team

This team completed both Phase 1, integration of the base system (71 teraflops per second), and Phase 2, technical assessment of the final system (a petaflop per second), for the Laboratory’s new Roadrunner high-performance computer.

Phase 1 more than doubled the Laboratory’s classified computing resources for nuclear weapons applications. To complete it, the team deployed key network and input/output capabilities in the Metropolis Center and installed and tested the new production software stack required by Los Alamos applications.

For Phase 2, team members assessed the feasibility of Roadrunner’s innovative hybrid processor architecture in which accelerators are used to increase application performance in lieu of adding more computational nodes. Because the full system would not be in place for the assessment, the team used system prototypes and performance models to gauge the project’s success. The results were positive and lead to the Laboratory’s commitment to procure Phase 3—the final Roadrunner system.

Superconducting Quantum Interference Device Team members are Chris Carr, Michelle Espy, John Gomez, Robert Kraus, Per Magnelind, Karlene Maskaly, Andrei Matlachov, John Mosher, Shaun Newman, Mark Peters, Henrik Sandin, Igor Savukov, Larry Schultz, Al Urbaitis, Petr Volegov, and Vadim Zotev (not listed in order shown in picture). Photo by Dixon Wolf

Superconducting Quantum Interference Device Team

With more than 20 publications, numerous invited talks, and a pair of patent applications, members of the Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) Team have established themselves as world leaders in the brand-new field of ultra-low-field magnetic resonance imaging (ULF-MRI). In 2007, the team developed medical and national security applications for this technology.

During the year, the SQUID Team reported the first-ever ULF-MRI image of a living human brain—a significant milestone in the field of functional brain studies. The team then adapted the brain-imaging technology to the detection of liquid explosives, completing the work in less than six months. The resultant hardware can be used to distinguish between benign and potentially dangerous liquids in airline passengers’ carry-on luggage. Prototype systems soon will be tested alongside X-ray equipment in airports around the country.

This team’s accomplishments have brought significant new funding to the Laboratory and drawn high praise from the scientific community.

W76-1 Physics Certification Team members are Chris Adams, Derek Armstrong, Kunegunda Belle, Roger Brewer, Kevin Buescher, Teh-Chin Cheng, Robert Coker, Paula Crawford, John Daly, William Dearholt, Anemarie DeYoung, Joseph Fitzpatrick, Britton Girard, Robert Goldman, Thomas Gorman, Robert Greene, Mark Gunderson, Joyce Guzik, David Hollowell, Margaret Hubbard, Lawrence Hull, David Jablonski, Mark Jarzemba, Andrew Jay Onifer, Tina McKee, Brian Reardon, Donald Sandoval, Anthony Sgro, Greg Sharp, Kim Simmons, Frank Timmes, Bruce Trent, Cetin Unal, Diane Vaughan, Gary Wall, Barry Warthen, Brian Williams, and Matthew Williams (not listed in order shown in picture). Photo by Dixon Wolf

W76-1 Physics Certification Team

Because the W76 remains one of the critical nuclear weapons in the U.S. stockpile, the W76 Life-Extension Program was initiated in the late 1990s. Last year, members of the W76-1 Physics Certification Team met important milestones in the physics certification of the W76-1. Their work was the culmination of a carefully planned series of activities and hydrotest experiments carried out over several years.

To complete certification, team members used the nuclear test database in order to develop a new physics baseline model. They developed a methodology for quantifying the margins and uncertainties (QMU) in the physics-based assessments—an accomplishment that has long been hoped for and discussed. The team documented this work thoroughly and presented it to numerous internal and external review bodies.

This team has demonstrated the Laboratory’s resolve to use QMU as an integral part of this and all future certification efforts

W88 MAR Physics Certification Team members are Kevin Buescher, Thomas Canfield, Rendell Carver, Vincent Chiravalle, Shirish Chitanvis, James Fincke, Todd Haines, Robert Hueckstaedt, Robert Janssen, James Langenbrunner, John Lestone, Jeffrey McAninch, Michael Prime, John Scott, Peter Sheehey, Stephen Sterbenz, Vincent Thomas, Cetin Unal, Gary Wall, Brian Williams, and Jennifer Young (not listed in order shown in picture). Photo by Dixon Wolf

W88 MAR Physics Certification Team

In 2007, Los Alamos produced the United States’ first diamond-stamped (approved for war-reserve) pit to be built since the closing of Rocky Flats in 1989. This team accomplished the important goal of assessing the physics impact of the Los Alamos pit on the W88 warhead, a requirement for approval of the major assembly release of the W88 containing the new pit.

To understand the performance of the Laboratory-built pit, the team designed experiments and conducted them over several years. The experiments were incredibly difficult, and delays often required team members to modify their plans. But with dedication and innovative thinking, the team met its numerous milestones while under constant review. The work culminated in 2007 with the analysis of all the experimental results and the incorporation of those results into the physics-based assessments.

This team’s high level of professionalism has cast the Laboratory in the best possible light

Individual Awards

Small Team Awards

Large Team Award