2024 Awards

 
External Individual Awards 

American Chemical Society Fellow 
Jennifer Hollingsworth 
 
Jennifer Hollingsworth (Materials Physics and Applications) was named an American Chemical Society (ACS) Fellow in recognition of her nanomaterials work with quantum dots, her mentorship and leadership within the chemistry community, and her service to the society.  
 
Hollingsworth’s research has played a pivotal role in the discovery and development of nonblinking giant quantum dots and understanding and controlling the fluctuation of single quantum dot emission intensity.  
 
Contributions to science, research community, professional society 
With pioneering contributions to materials chemistry, nanomaterials photophysics, and optoelectronics applications, Hollingsworth is the author of numerous impactful publications over her 25-year career. She is the recipient of a 2023 Laboratory Distinguished Performance Award for outstanding mentorship. As a councilor for the ACS Division of Colloid and Surface Chemistry she has served on numerous committees, organized symposia, and contributed to ACS and division strategic planning initiatives.  
 
Hollingsworth, who joined the Lab as a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow, has served as the leader of the nanophotonics and optical nanomaterials thrust at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies since 2018. She is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She received her doctorate in inorganic chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis.  

ASM Bronze Medal Award 
Mary O’Brien 
 
Mary O’Brien (Sigma) has earned the Bronze Medal Award from ASM International, the world’s largest materials science and engineering society. O’Brien was recognized for “fundamental characterization of hydrogen embrittlement mechanisms in actinides, development of safer steel pipeline heat treatments, and outstanding volunteerism to ASM International and the ASM Education Foundation.” Presented to early career ASM members, the award recognizes significant contributions in materials science and engineering through technical content and service to the society and the materials science profession. 
 
O’Brien’s research focuses on understanding hydrogen embrittlement phenomena in a variety of metallic systems with a focus on actinide materials. A former Seaborg Postdoctoral Fellow who joined the Lab in 2021, O’Brien has been a member of several Distinguished Performance Award teams. She received her doctorate in metallurgical and materials engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. 

Battelle Inventor of the Year 
Raymond Newell
 
Raymond Newell (Materials Physics and Applications) has been named Battelle’s Inventor of the Year for Los Alamos. The award recognizes inventors from Battelle and from Battelle-managed laboratories.  
 
Newell’s recognition stems in large part from his development of the Quantum Random Number Generator, a device that generates random numbers from quantum fluctuations in the intensity of an optical source. The groundbreaking technology has commercial applications, including cybersecurity and energy grid security. In collaboration with Newell, the company Qrypt, Inc., has licensed the number generator to create high-quality random keys at scale. 
 
The leader of the Lab’s Quantum Communication Systems Team, Newell has research interests that span the broad range of quantum information sciences for national security. He has helped develop the Smart Electric Grid, a new approach for power security that uses single particles of light for encryption and authentication for grid security. He is also the chief optical scientist for the SuperCam Body Unit, a suite of remote sensing instruments aboard NASA’s Perseverance rover on Mars. 
 
A research scientist who joined the Lab in 2004, Newell holds a doctoral degree in atomic, molecular, and optical physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

DOE Early Career Research Award  
Keegan Kelly 
 
Keegan Kelly (Physics) is the recipient of a DOE Early Career Researcher Award. Researchers in universities and DOE national laboratories compete for the awards under the DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program. The funds support outstanding early career scientists, stimulating their careers in disciplines funded through Office of Science programs. 
 
Using the Correlated Gamma-Neutron Array for Scattering (CogNac) at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, Kelly aims to develop an innovative measurement capability critical for fusion reactors, fast reactors, radiochemical diagnostics, and astrophysics applications.  
 
Kelly, who has a doctorate in physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, joined the Lab as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and is now a staff scientist. 

DOE Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office Postdoctoral Recognition Award 
Tanya Agarwal 
 
Tanya Agarwal (Materials Physics and Applications) has received the DOE’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO) Postdoctoral Recognition Award for her contributions to ionomer durability in membranes and electrodes. The HFTO noted that Agarwal’s research has resolved a long-standing issue hindering the efficiency of one of the most promising antioxidants for fuel cell membranes. 
 
Agarwal, who received her doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Delaware, joined the Lab as a graduate research assistant in 2021. As a Los Alamos Entrepreneurial and Director’s Postdoctoral fellow, Agarwal is focused on advancing PFAS-free membrane solutions for fuel cells. PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have become pervasive chemicals in the environment. She is also developing PFAS separation technology to enable their faster and cheaper detection in water. 

DOE Hydrogen Program Lifetime Achievement Award  
Piotr Zelenay 
 
The DOE Hydrogen Program recognized Piotr Zelenay (Materials Physics and Applications) with a lifetime achievement award for his outstanding contributions to the fields of electrocatalysis and electrochemistry. 
 
Zelenay was commended for his decades-long efforts in advancing the field of platinum-group-metal (PGM)-free electrocatalysis. According to the award citation, his work toward a low-cost, durable, and efficient catalyst for clean-energy conversion “reinvigorated the field at a critical juncture for both the broader community and the Hydrogen Program, leading directly to the founding of one of the first Energy Materials Network consortia, ElectroCat.” 
 
The Electrocatalysis Consortium (ElectroCat), which Zelenay co-chairs, focuses on the most promising approaches for PGM-free electrocatalysts that can meet activity and durability requirements for heavy-duty fuel cell production applications, as well as cost, efficiency, and other key metrics. With the growing emphasis on the hydrogen economy, upon its renewal in 2020, ElectroCat was also tasked with the development of PGM-free catalysts for hydrogen generation in low-temperature water electrolyzers. The consortium is co-led by Los Alamos and Argonne national laboratories. 
 
Lifetime of achievements 
A Los Alamos, Electrochemical Society, and International Society of Electrochemistry fellow, Zelenay joined the Lab’s Fuel Cell Program in 1997. He holds doctoral and doctor of science (habilitation) degrees in chemistry from the University of Warsaw, Poland, and a National Professorship in Chemistry, which was awarded by the President of Poland in 2015.

ECS Walter Van Schalkwijk Award in Sustainable Energy Technology  
Yu Seung Kim 
 
Yu Seung Kim (Materials Physics and Applications) received the Walter Van Schalkwijk Award in Sustainable Energy Technology, presented by the Energy Technology Division of The Electrochemical Society (ECS). The award recognizes Kim’s groundbreaking development of ion-pair membrane technology for high-temperature electrochemical processes. The technology, which enhances the practical use of fuel cells and electrochemical hydrogen pumps, is licensed by Advent Technologies.  
 
Kim’s research focuses on the fundamental and applied science of fuels cells, including proton and anion exchange membranes, hydrogen pumps, and alternatives to perfluoroalkyl substances.  
 
Kim and his colleagues received a 2024 R&D 100 Award for their ion-pair membrane electrode assemblies. He was named Battelle’s Inventor of the Year for Los Alamos in 2023 and holds more than 30 patents, with 7 licensed. He earned his doctorate in chemical engineering from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. 

ISSNAF Franco Strazzabosco Award 
Luigi Osmieri 
 
Luigi Osmieri (Materials Physics and Applications) received the Franco Strazzabosco Award for research in engineering with a focus on sustainable energy from the Italian Scientists and Scholars in North America Foundation (ISSNAF). 
 
Osmieri was recognized for his work advancing catalysts and electrodes for affordable hydrogen generation and utilization. The prize, honoring the entrepreneurial courage of Italian engineers who seek to apply scientific discoveries to public benefit, is presented to outstanding early career Italian researchers working in the United States and Canada. 
 
Osmieri, who received his doctorate in chemical engineering from the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, joined the Laboratory in 2020, after completing a postdoctoral appointment at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. He is a former Director’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow and now a staff scientist on the Fuel Cells and Electrochemical Sensors Team. His research interests include precious-metal-free electrocatalysts, electrode engineering, and electrochemical diagnostics applied to low-temperature electrochemical energy conversion devices. 

National Lab Research SLAM Scientific Discovery Award  
Theresa Kucinski 
 
Theresa Kucinski (Materials Science and Technology) received the Scientific Discovery Award at the National Lab Research SLAM.  
 
Kucinski delivered “Imperfectly perfect: Seeing the advantages of imperfections” at the inaugural competition, which featured participants from 17 DOE national labs. Her presentation encapsulated, in three minutes, how precisely determining imperfections creates a clearer picture of how they influence properties while discovering new science in the process. 
 
Kucinski, who has a doctorate in chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University, joined the Lab as a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies before becoming a staff scientist on the Microscopy Team. Her research focuses on applying computational methods to scanning transmission electron microscopy to characterize material properties at the nanoscale. 

Neutron Scattering Society of America Fellow  
Bjørn Clausen 
 
Bjørn Clausen (Materials Science and Technology) was named a 2024 Neutron Scattering Society of America Fellow for his experiments and modeling that use neutrons to determine how a material’s structure affects its performance while subjected to extreme conditions. This work supports the materials science needed to ensure the safety and surety of the nuclear stockpile mission. 
 
The society recognized Clausen’s “seminal contributions to residual stress measurements using diffraction methods, as well as using neutron time-of-flight diffraction methods (combined with self-consistent elasto- and viscoplastic crystal plasticity modeling), to substantially advance our understanding of the deformation of polycrystalline materials.” The society elects as fellows less than 1% of its international membership every two years. 
 
Harnessing the power of neutrons for materials science 
As the instrument scientist for the Spectrometer for Materials Research at Temperature and Stress at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), Clausen is an expert in engineering-related neutron diffraction and materials modeling. In addition to his own research interests, Clausen has supported a wide range of users at LANSCE’s Lujan Neutron Scattering Center. 
 
Clausen, who has a doctorate in solid mechanics from the Technical University of Denmark, joined the Lab as a staff scientist after performing materials science postdoctoral work at the California Institute of Technology and at LANSCE’s Lujan Neutron Scattering Center. 

RHIC/AGS Users’ Executive Committee Merit Award  
Krista Smith 

Krista Smith (Physics) received a 2024 Merit Award from the RHIC/AGS Users’ Executive Committee. The committee represents users of Brookhaven National Laboratory’s five user facilities, which include the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS).  
 
Smith was recognized for her “essential role in the study of charmonium production in the PHENIX Collaboration, her service as a member of the PHENIX Executive Council, and her diversity, equity, inclusion effort mentoring Native American women in nuclear physics research.”  
 
Smith, who received her doctorate in physics from Florida State University, used the PHENIX (for Pioneering High Energy Nuclear Interaction Experiment) detector at RHIC to study high energy collisions of heavy ions and protons. She served as co-principal investigator of a DOE Office of Science, Nuclear Physics-funded pilot project to train undergraduate indigenous women interested in a career in physics.  

TMS Brimacombe Medalist  
Laurent Capolungo 
 
Laurent Capolungo (Materials Science and Technology) was named a member of the Brimacombe Medalists class of 2024 by The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS). The mid-career award recognizes TMS members “with sustained excellence and achievement in business, technology, education, public policy, or science related to materials science and engineering who have a record of continuing service to the profession.” 
 
Capolungo was cited for “sustained excellence and achievement in multiscale modeling of plasticity and microstructure evolution in materials and dedicated mentoring of the next generation of scientists.” 
 
Expert in extremes 
An expert in the study of microstructure evolutions in metals subjected to extreme environments, Capolungo has developed simulation tools to predict materials’ response and their connection with their microstructures. He is the lead researcher on a five-year DOE nuclear energy research project modeling structural materials under molten salt conditions with high-performance computing. He is the deputy technical director for eXtremeMAT, a consortium of seven DOE national laboratories that aims to accelerate the development of materials for service in extreme environments.  
 
Further, he is the principal investigator for a Basic Energy Sciences research program dedicated to diffusionless transformations in metals. Capolungo has a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. 

TMS Brimacombe Medalist 
Saryu Fensin 
 
Saryu Fensin (Materials Physics and Applications) has been named a member of the Brimacombe Medalists class of 2024 by The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS), which recognizes TMS members “with sustained excellence and achievement in business, technology, education, public policy, or science related to materials science and engineering who have a record of continuing service to the profession.”  
 
Fensin was cited for “pioneering contributions to understanding the mechanisms controlling damage evolution and failure in materials under high strain rates and extreme conditions and her continued dedication to TMS.” 
 
Leading researcher 
An expert in understanding the dynamic behavior of materials, focusing on how defects influence failure in metals and alloys, Fensin has an extensive record of professional society service. This includes serving as chair of TMS’s Functional Materials Division (FMD) and past chair of several TMS committees. She has received the Robert Lansing Hardy Award from the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers; the TMS Young Leaders International Scholar Award with the Japan Institute of Metals and Materials; and the TMS FMD Young Leaders Award.  
 
Most recently she received an individual Los Alamos Distinguished Performance Award for her technical and project leadership supporting the Laboratory’s plutonium research and development mission. Fensin has a doctorate in materials science and engineering from the University of California, Davis. 

TMS Young Leaders Professional Development Award   
Matthew Zappulla 
 
Matthew Zappulla (Sigma) earned a Young Leaders Professional Development Award from the Extraction and Processing Division of The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS). The award provides young professional TMS members the opportunity to advance in the field of materials science through benefits that encourage participation in society events. 
 
Zappulla’s research is focused on thermal-mechanical modeling, harsh environment instrumentation, experimental equipment design, and the casting and solidification of metals.  
 
He joined the Lab as a postdoctoral researcher in 2020 after earning a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. 

External Team Awards 

AIME Champion H. Mathewson Award

Veronica Anghel, Ramon Martinez (Materials Physics and Applications); Donald Brown, Bjørn Clausen, Nathan S. Johnson (Materials Science and Technology) 
 
For work advancing understanding of the evolution of the metal additive microstructure under post-build annealing conditions, a team of Los Alamos researchers and external collaborators received the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) Champion H. Mathewson Award. The award recognizes a paper or series of related papers representing a notable contribution to metallurgical science.  
 
In “Evolution of the microstructure of laser powder bed fusion Ti-6Al-4V during post-build heat treatment,” published in Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A, the team described the evolution of the titanium alloy’s microstructure under accepted industrial heat-treating conditions using in situ high energy x-ray diffraction techniques at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source.

Defense Program Awards of Excellence

Presented annually by the NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs, the Awards of Excellence recognize significant and exceptional achievements in quality, productivity, cost savings, safety, or creativity in support of NNSA’s Stockpile Stewardship Program. Physical Sciences Directorate researchers were members of the award-winning MARTINI Experiment Team. 
 
MARTINI Experiment Team 
Victoria Cox, Ari Foley, Meghan Gibbs, Alberto Gomez, Sarah Hickam, Shane Mann, Joe Martz, Michael Middlemas, David Moore, Dan Olive, Mark Ortega, Derek Prada, Brett Robinson (Materials Science and Technology) 
 
The team was recognized for its work that greatly enhanced understanding of plutonium, a material that plays a critical role in nuclear weapons. Only four months after tasked to address a surprising and important concern, the MARTINI Team completed the first set of experiments. The new MARTINI data addressed the issue of concern and expands the understanding of plutonium, which is notorious for exhibiting odd physical behaviors. These new data enable the physics labs to resolve portions of the original issue of concern and provide a springboard for future plutonium experiments to address important Defense Programs challenges.   

NNSA Randy D. Putt Outstanding Security Team of the Year

Presented by NNSA’s Chief for Defense of Nuclear Security, the award is named in honor of Randy D. Putt, who for more than 30 years served in a range of leadership roles of the DOE and NNSA protective forces. 
 
Classified Wireless Team 
Nicole Carey (Sigma)  
 
The team successfully developed a classified wireless network solution to support plutonium production programs.  

Secretary of Energy Achievement Awards

Presented by the Secretary of Energy, the Achievement Awards are given to groups or teams of DOE employees and/or contractors in recognition of achievements that go above and beyond in supporting the department’s mission and serving the nation. Physical Sciences Directorate researchers were members of the following award-winning teams. 
 
Actinium-225 Tri-Lab Research Team 
Eric Olivas (Accelerator Operations and Technology); Kevin Baldwin (Materials Physics and Applications); Jason C. Cooley (Sigma)
 
German FRM-II Low Enriched Uranium Conversion Team 
Erik Luther (Sigma) 
 
National Ignition Facility Fusion Ignition Team 
Christopher Danly, Mora Durocher, Valerie Fatherley, Matthew Freeman, Hermann Geppert-Kleinrath,  Verena Geppert-Kleinrath, Justin Jorgenson, Yong Ho Kim, Ramon Leeper, Kevin Meaney, Harry F. Robey, Carl H. Wilde (Physics) 
 

R&D 100 Awards

Spanning industry, academia, and government-sponsored research organizations, the R&D 100 honor the top 100 proven technological advances of the year as selected by judges from R&D Magazine. The awards demonstrate the continued success of the Lab’s researchers in defining the frontiers of technical innovation in national security science.  
 
Physical Sciences Directorate researchers were members of the following R&D 100 Award-winning teams.

Researchers have developed the high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell for clean energy production. The advanced fuel cell stacks operate over a wider temperature range—delivering more power, greater durability, and higher tolerance to hydrogen fuel impurities than traditional fuel cells. Advent Technologies has licensed the patents and established a research, development, and manufacturing facility in Massachusetts to support various power applications. 

MENDS: Modular Electrochemical Nuclear Decontamination System 
Jerzy Chlistunoff, Janelle Droessler, Alp Findikoglu, George Goff, Alexandria Marchi, Quinn McCulloch, Jared Stritzinger (Materials Physics and Applications)

The self-contained, scalable system removes radioactive contaminants on surfaces that impact nuclear industries, such as nuclear energy, national laboratories, and nuclear medicine. The technology uses a fixed volume of internally generated and recycled solution to decontaminate surfaces to safe, low-level waste limits. MENDS promotes worker safety, eliminates the need for intensive manual labor leading to ergonomic injuries, and reduces generation of secondary waste. MENDS is poised to advance green methods for recycling and recovery of rare earth metals, mitigate biofouling, and enhance adherence of protective coatings. MENDS also received the Gold Medal Special Recognition Award for Green Tech,  
which honors innovations that help make the environment greener and enables progress toward energy reduction goals.

NDAlpha: Nondestructive Alpha Spectrometer 
Hye Young Lee (Physics)

Alpha radiation measurements of plutonium, uranium, and other actinides require time-consuming destructive sample analysis in a special laboratory. Researchers have created the first field-deployable alpha spectrometer for surface scanning of material noninvasively, quickly, and safely. Such measurements are needed after a nuclear incident, as well as for applications in nuclear power, environmental remediation, and nuclear medicine. NDAlpha also received the Silver Medal Special Recognition Award for Market Disruptor, which honors any product or service from any category that has truly changed the game in any industry. 

PHOENIX: Portable, High-efficiency, Orthovoltage ENergy Imaging X-rays 
David Platts, Chris Romero (Materials Physics and Applications); Eric Sorenson (Physics)

This field-deployable x-ray source operates in the orthovoltage (500 kilovolt-1 megavolt) energy range, which is significantly more penetrating than medical x-rays. PHOENIX provides high-resolution images in a range of applications previously deemed impractical or impossible for x-ray inspection. The source can be taken to inspect stationary objects, such as bridges and pipelines. PHOENIX eliminates the use of hazardous radioisotopes and portable power generators that other sources require. Golden Engineering was a partner on the R&D 100 entry.