Backhaus named top young innovator by Technology Review magazine

Contact: Todd Hanson, tahanson@lanl.gov, (505) 665-2085 (03-127)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Sept. 15, 2003 -- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Technology Review magazine today announced that Los Alamos National Laboratory staff member Scott Backhaus is one of the world's 100 Top Young Innovators for 2003.

The TR100, chosen by the editors of Technology Review and an elite panel of judges, consists of 100 individuals under age 35 whose innovative work in technology has a profound impact on today's world. Nominees are recognized for their contributions in transforming the nature of technology in such industries as biotechnology, computing, energy, nanotechnology, telecommunications and transportation.

Backhaus was chosen for his work in thermoacoustics, and specifically his role in the development of the acoustic Stirling heat engine. Backhaus graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1990 with a degree in engineering/physics. He received his doctorate in physics from the University of California-Berkeley in December 1997. Backhaus came to Los Alamos as a postdoctoral fellow in 1998, and became a technical staff member this year.

Laboratory leadership is pleased with the attention Backhaus is receiving. "Having Scott named as one of the world's top young innovators underscores the Laboratory's commitment to bringing the best and the brightest young scientists to Los Alamos and providing them with the opportunities to work on exciting projects of national importance," said Thomas J. Meyer associate director for strategic research at Los Alamos."

"Innovation and technological change are essential to worldwide economic growth. Now, more than ever, it's important to recognize that there is no one technology driving the next wave of success, but rather several that, when fused together, will create another era of significant change for our society.

The members of this year's TR100 hail from fields such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, wireless, energy, computing and medicine. Each innovator is actively developing the emerging technologies that we feel will profoundly impact our world in the century ahead," said Robert Buderi, editor-in-chief of Technology Review.

TR100's panel of judges includes: Vinton Cerf, WorldCom Corp.; David Tennenhouse, Intel; Gordon Bell, Microsoft; Christina Lampe-Onnerud, TIAX; Stephen Quake, California Institute of Technology; Rodney Brooks, MIT CSAIL; and George Whitesides, Harvard University.

Backhaus will be honored Sept. 24 – 25 at The Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT. Technology Review Inc., an MIT Enterprise, is a monthly magazine about emerging technologies on the verge of commercialization.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the U.S. Department of Energy and works in partnership with NNSA's Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories to support NNSA in its mission.

Los Alamos enhances global security by ensuring safety and confidence in the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction and improving the environmental and nuclear materials legacy of the cold war. Los Alamos' capabilities assist the nation in addressing energy, environment, infrastructure and biological security problems.

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