Honors and Recognition
2012
- January 2012 – CENDI Meritorious Award for FY11
2011
2010
- December 2010 – White House recognizes ScienceEducation.gov
- August 2010 – OSTIblog cited as a Top Government Blog
2009
- December 2009 – OSTI clears path for finding many of world’s highly-ranked research repositories, new rankings show
- October 2009 – OSTI Director Is Keynote Speaker for ILDS Conference
- July 2009 – GCN: Science.gov already "meeting and exceeding" new administration's transparency goals
- July 2009 – OSTI "special collection" highlighted in the Bulletin of IEEE Technical Committee on Digital Libraries
2007
- December 2007 – OSTI cited as Web site "on the right track"
- September 2007 – OSTI 60th Anniversary Commemorated
- May 2007 – Science.gov Selected to Library Journal's 2006 Best Web References List
2006
- June 2006 – OSTI Staff Member named SLA Director-Elect
- January 2006 – CENDI Award to OSTI Staff for Central Roles in Science.gov
2005
2004
2002
- March 2002 – Secretarial Certificate for Achievement of Electronic Goal
- March 18, 2002 – DOE IT Quality Award for Mgmt/Admin Excellence
- January 2002 – Commendation from Depository Library Council for Energy Citations Database
2001
- September 2001 – OSTI Director Receives Interagency Award
- March 2001 – 2000 Information Technology Quality Award for Executive Leadership
- January 2001 – Energy100 Award for PubSCIENCE
2000
1999
- October 1999 – PubSCIENCE appears in First Anniversary Edition of Access America Online
- August 16, 1999 – EnergyPortal Appears in Federal Computer Week
- August 6, 1999 – August 6, 1999 – PubSCIENCE Appears in Science Magazine
- July 1999 – STIP Community Wins Award
- July 1999 – Congressman Lauds Agreement between GPO and OSTI for Information Bridge
- May 1999 – Hammer Award Presented for the R & D Project Summaries Web Database
- May 1999 – EnergyFiles: Virtual Library Collection of Energy Science and Technology Team Members Receive a 1999 Hammer Award
- February 1999 – DOE Information Bridge Team Members Receive a National Partnership for Reinventing Government "Hammer Award."
1998
- September 1998 – DOE Information Management Quality Award for Technical Excellence Presented to the DOE Information Bridge Project Team
- April 1998 – Commendation from the Depository Library Council for the DOE Information Bridge
- April 1998 – DOE Information Bridge Selected as Yahoo! Pick of the Day
- January 1998 – Tennessee Quality Commitment Award
1997
- November 1997 – Senator Warner's Committee Applauds Agreement Between GPO and OSTI for Information Bridge
- October 1997 – Department of Energy's FY 1997 Information Management (IM) Management/Administrative Excellence Award
- October 1997 – Energy Quality Commendation Award
- January 1997 – OSTI Receives Secretary's Gold Award
1996
- August 1996 – Award for Reinventing Government
1995
- Spring 1995 – Adopter of the Year Award
2012
- January 2012 – CENDI Meritorious Award for FY11
Sharon Jordan, former Assistant Director for Program Integration at the Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), received the 2011 CENDI Meritorious Service Award. Jordan was recognized for her long-standing history of service and support of CENDI and, in particular, for her leadership in supporting the development of and promoting CENDI's premier flagship project, Science.gov. The CENDI Meritorious Service Award recognizes an individual or team for making “a noteworthy contribution to CENDI and to federal interagency cooperation through its events, publications, administration, or outreach.” Until her retirement in December 2011, Jordan had served for 18 months as the Deputy Chair of CENDI, providing a depth of knowledge of CENDI and scientific and technical information operations as well as her expertise in information policy. The Committee unanimously decided that Sharon's tireless and exemplary support of CENDI and Science.gov interests met the spirit of the award and chose her as the nominee most deserving of this special recognition.
2011
- March 2011 – OSTI honored with Anderson County Combined Federal Campaign Awards
At the Anderson County Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) 2010 Awards Luncheon today, OSTI was honored with two awards: a 1st Place Gold Award "for setting the mark in employee participation to the 2010-2011 Combined Federal Campaign in Anderson County" and a 2nd Place Silver Award "for setting the mark in per capita giving to the 2010–2011 Combined Federal Campaign in Anderson County" Several members of the OSTI staff were also recognized for their help and generous contributions. The mission of the CFC is to promote and support philanthropy through a program that is employee focused, cost-efficient, and effective in providing all federal employees the opportunity to improve the quality of life for all.
2010
- December 2010 – White House recognizes ScienceEducation.gov
ScienceEducation.gov (beta version) has been posted on the White House Open Government Innovations Gallery. ScienceEducation.gov is a searchable portal of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education resources freely available online (see ScienceEducation.gov video). ScienceEducation.gov ensures that resources are made available transparently through a participatory and collaborative initiative. Read more about the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) recognition of ScienceEducation.gov on the DOE Blog, the DOE facebook page
and the OSTI blog.
- August 2010 – OSTIblog cited as a Top Government Blog
Where can you read about Recording Science: From Parchment to Pixels and gain insights into making "Non-Googleable" Science and Technology Searchable? At the award-winning OSTIblog, every article is designed to help you find the research results and science information you need, and to understand why that is important. The OSTIblog was recently updated for easier navigation – visit and see why Juggle.com made the OSTIblog one of its Top Government Blogs for 2010.
2009
- December 2009 – OSTI clears path for finding many of world’s highly-ranked research repositories, new rankings show
Many of the world’s top-ranked repositories of scholarly scientific information are easily accessible via OSTI search portals. According to the latest rankings by The Ranking Web of World Repositories, which scored 400 scholarly repositories relative to global visibility and scientific impact, four of the top 20 – arXiv (#2), PubMed Central (#4), DSpace (#16), and CERN Document Server (#19) – are searchable via OSTI products such as E-print Network, Science.gov, and WorldWideScience.org. The aim of the ranking is to “support Open Access initiatives and therefore the free access to scientific publications in an electronic form and to other academic material,” according to the Cybermetrics Lab website. Cybermetrics Lab is a research group belonging to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the largest public research body in Spain.
- October 2009 – OSTI Director Is Keynote Speaker for ILDS Conference
Walt Warnick, Director of the Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information, was keynote speaker for the 2nd Session of the 11th Interlending and Document Supply Conference held October 20-22 in Hannover, Germany. Dr. Warnick’s talk, Federated Search (Emphasizing WorldWideScience.org) as a Transformational Technology Enabling Knowledge Discovery described OSTI’s pioneering national and international search tools which have brought tremendous efficiency to the science knowledge discovery process. Dr. Warnick addressed recent technical and content enhancements making federated searching a unique and pre-eminent technology for broadening and simplifying access to deep web scientific information.
- July 2009 – GCN: Science.gov already "meeting and exceeding" new administration's transparency goals
Science.gov is among 10 government websites already "meeting and exceeding" the Obama Administration’s transparency goals, according to a special report by Government Computer News, released July 27. Great.Gov Web Sites described "10 sites that take government to the next level," noting that Science.gov "breaks down stovepipes of research." Joab Jackson, editor, wrote: "Now, with Science.gov, you don't have to worry about which agency published the research. Led by the Energy Department's Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), the site offers a one-stop shop for searching U.S. scientific databases. At last count, you could do a single search of 38 data sources — or about 200 million documents." Following up on the special report, Government Computer News wrote an editorial, Government Web sites worthy of respect. According to the editorial, "What’s striking about some of the ‘great government Web sites' featured in this issue’s special report by Joab Jackson is how quickly Web sites such as Data.gov and Science.gov are bringing vast reserves of government data to users – data that would have been nearly impossible to find even a year ago." In the days since the report’s publication, it has been listed as the site’s most popular article and the most emailed article. - July 2009 – OSTI "special collection" highlighted in the Bulletin of IEEE Technical Committee on Digital Libraries
The Bulletin of IEEE Technical Committee on Digital Libraries featured the DOE R&D Accomplishments website in its Spring 2009 issue. A Unique Insight into Department of Energy Research Accomplishments: A Special Collection was written by OSTI staff member Mary Schorn, who is product manager of DOE R&D Accomplishments. Landmark documents such as The Eightfold Way: A Theory of Strong Interaction Symmetry and The First Weighing of Plutonium are among approximately 300 specially-selected documents included in the collection. A fact card and poster are available for download with the Bulletin’s feature. DOE R&D Accomplishments is a central forum for information about the outcomes of past DOE R&D widely recognized as remarkable advances in science.
2007
- December 2007 – OSTI cited as Web site "on the right track"
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) continues to ensure ready access to the results of research and development from DOE, federal government science agencies, and international scientific databases. OSTI was recently cited as one of five federal government Web sites “on the right track” by OMB Watch, a nonprofit government watchdog organization located in Washington, DC. The report, Hiding in Plain Sight: Why Important Government Information Cannot Be Found through Commercial Search Engines, was released December 11 and spotlights the gap in accessibility of government information (see press release). - September 2007 – OSTI 60th Anniversary Commemorated
On September 18, 2007, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) commemorated its 60-year contribution to accelerating scientific discovery through the preservation and sharing of DOE R&D results. Historical exhibits and a program for retirees, former and current employees, and business and community leaders were held at the OSTI facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Dr. Jeffrey Salmon, Associate Under Secretary for Science; Dr. Eugene Garfield, Chairman Emeritus of Thomson Scientific; and Dr. Walter Warnick, OSTI Director, were speakers. U.S. Congressman Zach Wamp delivered pre-recorded video comments. During the event, the launch of DOePatents, a new Web site developed by OSTI, was announced. That evening OSTI co-hosted with Friends of Oak Ridge National Library a free community lecture by Dr. Garfield, a pioneer in information retrieval systems and inventor of Science Citation Index, at the American Museum of Science and Energy. As part of its 60th celebration, OSTI is participating in the Places & Spaces Mapping Science exhibit currently at the museum. - May 2007 – Science.gov Selected to Library Journal's 2006 Best Web References List
According to Library Journal, Science.gov "is the place to go for science information and results of scientific research." Each year Library Journal selects best Web references for its patrons: library directors, managers, and others in public, academic, and corporate/institutional libraries. Science.gov, a collaborative effort of 12 federal science agencies, provides a search of deep Web databases and more than 50 million pages of scientific information. It serves as a gateway to more than 1,800 scientific Web sites. Science.gov is hosted by OSTI.
2006
- June 2006 – OSTI Staff Member named SLA Director-Elect
- January 2006 – CENDI Award to OSTI Staff for Central Roles in Science.gov
The Office of Scientific and Technical Information's Sharon Jordan and Valerie Allen were cited for their central roles in the creation and ongoing development of Science.gov, a federal science web portal. Jordan, Assistant Director of Program Integration for OSTI, and Allen, Product Manager of Science.gov — along with Jean Bowers, National Technical Information Service, and Ken Lanfear, U.S. Geological Survey — received the second annual Award of Meritorious Service, given by CENDI, an interagency working group of senior scientific and technical information managers from 12 U.S. federal agencies. According to the news release, the team has been central to the creation and ongoing development of this federal science portal.
2005
- November 2005 – OSTI Director elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world's largest general scientific society
Dr. Walter L. Warnick was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science(AAAS) in the Information, Computing, and Communication section "for leadership in the federal scientific information community and for contributions to the conceptualization, development and implementation of innovative programs that significantly advance access to government information." Dr. Warnick was one of three members of the Department of Energy's Office of Science to be elected in 2005. AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society. An AAAS Fellow is defined as "a Member whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished." Examples of areas in which nominees may have made significant contributions are research; teaching; technology; services to professional societies; administration in academe, industry, government, and other institutions; and communicating and interpreting science to the public. Fellows are elected annually by the AAAS Council. Dr. Warnick was recognized for his contribution to science at the Fellows Forum held on 18 February 2006 during the AAAS Annual Meeting in St. Louis. New Fellows receive a certificate and a blue and gold rosette pin as a symbol of their distinguished accomplishments. Dr. Warnick is Director of the Office of Scientific and Technical Information.
- May 2005 – OSTI Associate Director Elected ETDE Executive Committee Chair
- March 2005 – Library Journal names OSTI Staff Member a 2005 Mover and Shaker
2004
- April 2004 – OSTI Director appointed to the Depository Library Council to the Public Printer of the United States
Public Printer of the United States Bruce James appointed OSTI Director Walter Warnick to the Depository Library Council. The council addresses policy issues and seeks practical options toward efficient management and operation of the nation’s Depository Library Program. Public Printer James said of the appointees, "These individuals have dedicated their lives to ensuring that every American has access to Government information.” In addition to Dr. Warnick, the appointees include three university officials (Duke, South Carolina and Illinois) as well as a New York Public Library official.
- April 2004 – OSTI Director nominated to serve as CENDI chair
CENDI, an interagency working group of senior Scientific and Technical Information (STI) Managers from 11 Federal agencies, named Dr. Warnick as chair. CENDI agencies represent over 93% of the FY04 federal research and development budget. The group addresses science- and technology-based national priorities to improve productivity of programs and to strengthen U.S. competitiveness.
2002
- March 2002 – Secretarial Certificate for Achievement of Electronic Goal
OSTI and its STIP partners at DOE field offices and laboratories received Certificates of Achievement from Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham for successfully completing the transition from paper to electronic technical information reporting in support of DOE's R&D mission three years ahead of the DOE goal. This collaborative implementation of best business practices in electronic government ensures that information resulting from the Department's R&D activities is readily accessible to all appropriate users in a fully integrated E-Government environment. (Secretarial Certificate)
- March 18, 2002 – DOE IT Quality Award for Mgmt/Admin Excellence
OSTI's "Streamlining OSTI Acquisitions and Data Management Team" won an IT Quality Award for Management/Administrative Excellence at a special awards ceremony at the 2002 Annual Information Technology Conference held in Denver, CO, on March 18, 2002. The award recognized the leadership in implementing a streamlined system for providing legacy and current DOE STI in the Energy Citations Database and developing a technical program for "harvesting" DOE R&D results.
- January 2002 – Commendation from Depository Library Council for Energy Citations Database
The Depository Library Council to the Public Printer commended the DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) and the Government Printing Office for their partnership which provided the Energy Citations Database (ECD). The database provides citations to publications from 1948-present and contributes significantly to increasing accessibility of Federal Government information to the public.
2001
- September 2001 – OSTI Director Receives Interagency Award
Chosen by leaders of the federal information technology and information science communities, the 2001 Interagency Resource Management Conference (IRMCO) Individual Award for all of government was presented to OSTI's Director, Dr. Walter L. Warnick. This prestigious award is presented each year to an individual or team that has demonstrated exceptional ability to operate across organizational boundaries to improve the government's service to its people.
- March 2001 – 2000 Information Technology Quality Award for Executive Leadership
OSTI's Director, Dr. Walter L. Warnick, received the DOE-Wide IT Quality Award for Executive Leadership for his "vision and leadership in championing an aggressive effort to capitalize on technological advances in the Information Age to bring science information to the desktops of U.S. and DOE researchers."
- January 2001 – Energy100 Award for PubSCIENCE
PubSCIENCE is recognized as one of the best 100 scientific and technological accomplishments of the Department of Energy during this century.
2000
- January 2000 – Commendation from the Depository Library Council for PubSCIENCE
Depository Library Council commends GPO and the Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information for sponsoring public access to PubSCIENCE, a web-based product that provides access to more than a million citations to journal articles in the physical sciences with connections to a growing number of full text articles. Council is especially pleased to see GPO and OSTI continue in their partnership to provide essential energy-related information to the public and hopes to see additional products available in the future.
1999
- October 1999 – PubSCIENCE appears in First Anniversary Edition of Access America Online
Search Scientific Journals Online, an article about PubSCIENCE, appeared in the First Anniversary Edition of Access America Online. PubSCIENCE, OSTI's newest product, is a component of EnergyFiles Virtual Library Collection of Energy Science and Technology.
- August 16, 1999 – EnergyPortal Appears in Federal Computer Week
"DOE energizes site with extensive web searches" is the title of the article appearing in "Federal Computer Week," August 16, 1999. The article discusses the new EnergyFiles search engine "EnergyPortal" and its capability to combine searches of 450 distributed databases and various government and private/non-profit websites. Search EnergyPortal.
- August 6, 1999 – PubSCIENCE Appears in Science Magazine
SCIENTIFIC PUBLISHING: Science Magazine reported in its August 6, 1999, issue that DOE built a website for the Physical Sciences called PubSCIENCE. See DOE Builds a website for the Physical Sciences. PubSCIENCE, jointly sponsored by the Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) and the Government Printing Office (GPO), is a World Wide Web application which provides access to abstracts of journal articles and associated bibliographic information. PubSCIENCE is expected to be available to the public on October 1, 1999.
- July 1999 – STIP Community Wins Award
The STIP Community was awarded a National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR) "Hammer Award" for the successful transition to electronic scientific and technical information (STI) management. This award recognizes the team of employees who made a significant contribution in support of reinventing government principles. Some 96 individual participants were involved in the electronic transition effort.
In the single most revolutionary change in its history, OSTI and its STIP partners collaboratively developed procedures to convert the Program from a centralized paper-based operation to a decentralized electronic activity which uses the Internet and World Wide Web, thus making DOE's STI more widely available in less time and at a lower cost per person served. It is estimated that this paperless way of doing business will avoid costs to the Department and U.S. taxpayers of approximately $2 million per year.
- July 1999 – Congressman Lauds Agreement between GPO and OSTI for Information Bridge
On July 13, 1999, Congressman Steny Hoyer recognized government successes by lauding GPO and DOE for the Information Bridge. Read Congressional Record article.
- May 1999 – Hammer Award
Presented for the R & D Project Summaries Web Database, which contains key corporate information relating to over 14,000 R&D projects performed since FY95 by DOE's laboratories and other installations, "the Hammer Award is an NPR tribute to teams of federal reinventors and their partners in state and local government and the private sector. The award recognizes them for using reinvention principles to create a government that works better, costs less, and delivers results the American people care about," according to the NPR web page [Archived Site]. This web application was made available to DOE customers and stakeholders, including the public, on June 1, 1997. This Hammer Award was presented at a ceremony held in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
- May 1999 – EnergyFiles Award
EnergyFiles: Virtual Library Collection of Energy Science and Technology The EnergyFiles: Virtual Library Collection of Energy Science and Technology team members from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Office of Science, were selected to receive a 1999 Hammer Award. "The Hammer Award is a tribute to teams of federal reinventors and their partners in state and local government and the private sector. The award recognizes them for using reinvention principles to create a government that works better, costs less, and delivers results the American people care about," according to the NPR web page [Archived Site]. EnergyFiles: Virtual Library Collection of Energy Science and Technology provides access to over 400 scholarly collections of energy-related scientific and technical information. This Hammer Award was presented at a ceremony in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
- February 1999 – Information Bridge Award
DOE Information Bridge team members from the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Office of Science, received a National Partnership for Reinventing Government "Hammer Award." The Hammer Award was presented to OSTI representatives at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) Virtual Government Conference in Washington, D.C., on February 23, 1999. Francis Buckley, Superintendent of Documents, was also at the ceremony representing the Government Printing Office, which through a cooperative partnership with the Office of Scientific and Technical Information made a public version of Information Bridge available to Federal Depository Libraries and other interested users. The Hammer Award recognizes teams of federal employees and their partners whose work resulted in a government that works better and costs less. The public version of the award-winning DOE Information Bridge captures and offers free access to the key deliverables of DOE's annual $6 billion R&D program in such areas as physics, chemistry, materials, biology, environmental cleanup, and other energy-related disciplines. An enhanced version is also available to the Department and its contractors (now Science Research Connection). Making this information available on the Internet in an organized, searchable format is a significant benefit to the Department and, ultimately, to the U.S. taxpayer.
1998
- September 1998 – DOE Information Management Quality Award for Technical Excellence
Presented to the DOE Information Bridge Project Team, Office of Scientific and Technical Information, Science Applications International Corporation, and NCI Information Systems, Inc., for development and implementation of the innovative DOE Information Bridge providing web access for scientific research activities to DOE R&D program results, thus maximizing the U.S. taxpayer investment in energy research.
- April 1998 – Commendation from the Depository Library Council for the Information Bridge
Approved by the Depository Library Council, which serves as an advisory committee for the GPO, to the Public Printer, the commendation reads: "Council commends the GPO and the Department of Energy for providing no-fee public access to the Office of Scientific and Technical Information's 'Information Bridge' through GPO Access. This partnership between a major technical agency and GPO provides a convenient and cost-effective successor to the DOE depository microfiche collection." It is a rare honor for one agency to award a commendation to another agency.
- April 1998 – Yahoo Pick of the Day
The DOE Information Bridge selected for the pick of the day for April 29, 1998.
- January 1998 – Tennessee Quality Commitment Award
The Office of Scientific and Technical Information was presented with the Tennessee Quality Commitment Award by Governor Don Sundquist at the fifth annual Tennessee Quality Awards presentation on January 12, 1998. The Quality Commitment describes an intermediate level for organizations that have advanced from their initial steps toward total quality improvement and are recognized for the accomplishments toward the next level of achievement. The ceremony was attended by more than 1,000 representatives of participating Tennessee companies, organizations and support groups statewide. OSTI's award puts it in a class of being one of the best of Tennessee organizations.
1997
- November 1997 – Senator Warner's Committee Applauds Agreement Between GPO and OSTI for Information Bridge
A letter approving the interagency agreement between GPO and OSTI for the Public Information Bridge was sent to The Honorable Michael F. DiMario, Public Printer, from John Warner, Chairman for the Joint Committee on Printing. The letter states: "The committee views this proposed Interagency Agreement as a good model which should be offered to other agencies whose materials are of value to the depository library program..."
- October 1997 – Department of Energy's FY 1997 Information Management (IM) Management/Administrative Excellence Award
This award was presented to OSTI's R&D Project Summaries Web Database Team during the IM Council meeting, October 20–22, 1997, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The award was given for creation of the DOE R&D Project Summaries Web Database in response to ongoing Departmental needs to share, publicize, and better manage the Department's R&D results.
- October 1997 – Energy Quality Commendation Award
Presented by Secretary Federico Peña, the Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) received this award. The Energy Quality Award is given for excellence in work processes, environmental issues, and leadership practices judged by the Department's Energy Quality Council and award examiners using six Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award management criteria. A large number of the OSTI staff participated in explaining and demonstrating how the OSTI quality program operates during a site visit that was conducted by the examining team in July of this year. The award recognizes OSTI as one of the Administration's National Performance Review high caliber organizations.
- January 1997 – OSTI Receives Secretary's Gold Award
Presented by the Secretary of Energy Hazel R. O'Leary, this award was given in recognition of OSTI's participation on the Human Radiation Experiments Team. Assistance was provided to the Presidential Advisory Committee and the Office of Human Radiation Experiments in the search to uncover and make available agency records on radiation experiments associated with the Department and its predecessor agencies.
1996
- August 1996 – Award for Reinventing Government
The Directive Re-engineering Group led by OSTI received an award for cutting red tape associated with the management of the Department-wide $240 million annual process for managing STI, thus supporting the principles of reinventing government. The Group received this award for working in partnership with over 100 STI managers to reduce 143 pages of prescriptive and mandatory requirements to just 8 pages of collaboratively developed requirements. As a result of the significant success of this Group, the collaborative process for managing the Department's STI function is now the standard for DOE and the working model that other information management activities try to emulate.
1995
- Spring 1995 – Adopter of the Year Award
Presented by Anderson County Schools in recognition of the Office of Scientific and Technical Information's Adopt-A-School program and their efforts to help Anderson County Elementary Schools.