INL's 29th annual Laboratory Director Awards

The Idaho National Laboratory recently hosted its 29th annual Laboratory Director Awards ceremony, a night to celebrate the lab’s most important asset: its researchers, technicians, managers and mission-enabling staff members. This year’s event recognized an extraordinary group for their contributions to science and technology, and their service to the community.

INL Director John Wagner kicked off the evening by emphasizing the laboratory's support for energy abundance through research, development and innovation. “(While) energy abundance is essential to our economic prosperity, it will also benefit the more than 1 billion people around the world who do not currently have reliable access to electricity.”

He also credited the lab’s contributions to protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure. “It’s been said many times that you can sleep better at night because of the work our national and homeland security team does here at INL – because it’s true,” he said.

The gala event was a time for reflection and to celebrate employees whose work aligns with INL’s values, vision and mission. Wagner described 2024 as a year of significant progress on advanced reactor test beds. Other accomplishments included groundbreaking hydrogen production research and continued progress on the Energy Technology Proving Ground, which will allow industrial partners to demonstrate advanced energy technologies at scale.

Honoring labwide excellence

Throughout the evening, awardees were celebrated for their exceptional achievements and dedication to advancing the laboratory's mission. From community service to leadership excellence to outstanding research contributions, each award highlighted the diverse talents and contributions of INL's workforce.

Eric Papaioannou , INL’s interim deputy laboratory director for management and operations and chief operations officer, presented the Labwide Excellence Awards.

Awardees this year were:

Wynette Passmore, a mainstay of INL’s Protective Force for more than a decade.

Kelly McCary , a scientist whose research supports nuclear fuel cycle development, advanced nuclear fuel design, waste management and regulatory compliance, and whose service in the community includes serving as a United Way ambassador and raising funds for groups such as Idaho Falls Pride .

Craig Thompson, a member of INL’s Safeguards and Security organization who overcame addiction to become a leader in the community through his involvement with Narcotics Anonymous.

Keith Mecham , whose influence stretches across cybersecurity, engineering, and program development as he helps researchers understand and navigate the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program.

Allen Roach , director of the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing for Extreme Environments initiative.

Dan Sleight was recognized for his effort in the development, design and rollout of INL’s AI Virtual Assistant (AiVA).

Darren Ritchie was recognized for his work as a locksmith, a huge and generally unsung task. In addition to his skills, Ritchie was recognized for his calm, understanding way of working, developing solutions and providing reassurance under frequently difficult circumstances.

Teamwork at its finest

The Management and Operations award for 2024 went to INL’s Cyber Breach Response Team: Andre Duffin , Ethan Huffman , Kenzie Johnson , Ezra Payne , Jeff Pinkham , Shyanne Stuck , and Sabrina Vail . Following a November 2023 cyber-data breach that affected close to 45,000 employees, former employees and dependents, this team led internal and external communications efforts to dampen the impact and build trust with everyone affected, keeping an unfortunate situation from turning catastrophic.

The winner of the Next-Level INL Team Award was the Project Management Leadership Academy Team: Amy Adams, MS, PMP , Connie Brockman, Keith Freier, Brittany Hulse , Stephannie L. , Ann Nash , and R.J. Scott, MBA, PMP . Over two years, this team designed a curriculum covering critical aspects of management and leadership that won rave reviews from its 51 graduates, who said they emerged more inspired to improve their knowledge and develop their skills.

The Safety Leadership award was given to the MRG Glove Enhancement Working Group team: Paige Abel, Austin Butikofer, Jesse Kappmeyer, J.D. Kelly , Scott Larsen, Brandon McKinlay and Jonathan Parker, MS, CIH . Established in 2022 to address an increase in glove and upper sleeve assembly holes at manipulator repair enclosures at INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex, the team tested different gloves and sleeves, developed operator aids and procedures, and worked with the supplier to address issues. Their efforts have reduced the number of glove holes by more than half.

Research and Development leadership

Todd Combs , INL’s chief research officer and deputy laboratory director for science and technology, presented the 2024 Research and Development awards. To select winners, Combs chaired a committee of leaders from across the laboratory.

The winners were:

Abdalla Abou Jaoude , an expert in multi-physics simulations, nuclear plant design and reactor physics. Among his many accomplishments since joining INL in 2017, Abdalla helped launch the Virtual Test Bed, performed confirmatory analysis of the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment demonstration, aided in the first fueled chloride salt irradiation experiment, and assisted in establishing INL’s Molten Salt Reactor group.

Meng Li, Ph.D , a staff scientist whose research involves computations and electrolyzers to advance energy storage technologies. Her work was recognized in 2020 and 2022 with INL’s Exceptional Innovation Contribution award. Recognizing how important artificial intelligence and machine learning have become, Meng has expanded her focus to pursue a master’s degree in computer science to better understand how to leverage these tools in her work.

David Chichester is a 20-year INL veteran who has been granted seven patents, won two R&D 100 awards and secured more than $42 million in project funding. He holds multiple DOE leadership roles on the agency’s forensic operations team and serves as part of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) ’s nuclear emergency response team. In 2022, the NNSA Office of International Safeguards recognized David for his innovative work on in-field alpha spectrometry for uranium enrichment and its technology transfer to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) .

Randel Paulsen was honored for his work on the Advanced Test Reactor’s Test Train Assembly Facility, which resulted in a configuration that allows test trains to be offloaded while better aligning and maximizing floor space and equipment. This lessened the risks of contamination and injury to co-workers while continuing to support research needs and objectives.

Outstanding Impact

These awards recognize significant impact within the broader science and technology community. Because INL’s research portfolios are so diverse, three were given for 2024.

The winners were:

The Optimal Solutions Team ( Jeffrey Carlsen , Jason Edgington, PMP , Megan Egan, Stephen Kleinheider, Sutter Laird and Jeremy Turpen), which delivered a maritime test bed for the U.S. Department of Defense, a product that shaped potential courses of action for senior government officials working on time-sensitive and high-priority national security issues.

SMC PEMP Notable Outcome Project Team (Shawn Allred, Tyler Batt , Daniel Brown, Brooke Packer , Adan Pelayo, Nick Stuart, PMP, CPM and Hadley Wright ). This team completed in 18 months a task that encompassed every organization within INL’s Specific Manufacturing Capability, involving safety, employee development, and process and tooling development, earning recognition from its customer, the 美国军队 .

Metal Fuel Extrusion Development Team ( Randall Fielding , Darrell Jonak, Brady Mackowiak , Caysie Marshall , Marissa Merrill , Brian Newbold and Steven Steffler), which developed unique processes to handle a variety of tasks and information to meet the highest standards, in anticipation of being used in Nuclear Regulatory Commission-licensed reactors.

Fulfilling the lab’s vision

The INL Vision award was created to recognize employees’ outstanding accomplishments that contribute to INL’s vision to change the world’s energy future and secure our nation’s critical infrastructure.

Winners this year were:

Jason Andrus , whose efforts to develop new and effective approaches for nuclear safety analysis will enable advanced nuclear reactor demonstrations. His work for Project Pele, guiding the reactor developer and project sponsor in every aspect of nuclear safety, resulted in it being hailed as the most mature safety analysis licensing basis of any advanced reactor in the U.S.

The 75th Anniversary Communications Team ( Kris Burnham , Tabrie Cook , Daniel Flores Magallanes , Liza Leonard , Lori McNamara, Janelle McPherson , Menser, Paul , Steven Petersen , and Leslie Wright ), which took the opportunity to commemorate the lab’s 75th anniversary with a wide array of events, tours, publications, social media and open houses, raising awareness locally and across the nation.

The ICScape Room Team (Kevin Barnes, Joe Chiaradia , Gary Finco , Russell Gold, Jeffrey Hahn, PE, CISSP , Mistee Jacobson, Brandon John, Christopher Johnson, Kelly Johnson , Tyler Lentz, Eric Mickelsen, Kreg Roenfeldt and Matthew J. Scott, MCIT ). Challenged to develop educational platforms focused on securing critical infrastructure through cybersecurity, this dedicated team of INL professionals stepped up and developed unique interactive and immersive environments that emphasize control system cyber principles. These rooms are an essential part of INL’s cybersecurity training and have been featured at events across the nation. ?

Tier II Release Processes Team ( Rebecca Case , Kenneth Clark, Brian Crawford, Matthew Meengs and Dean Stewart ). This team of dedicated health physicists developed a process for a comprehensive evaluation of the disposition of neutron-irradiated items. This enables INL to conduct neutron imaging at our facilities on items from a variety of fields, including energy materials, paleontology, agriculture and archeology. Institutions, such as museums and universities, can now have their samples tested in neutron fields and returned following the experiments.

Looking ahead

As the ceremony drew to a close, Wagner expressed gratitude to all awardees and nominators for their invaluable contributions, emphasizing the profound impact of their work on shaping INL’s future and addressing critical global challenges. The awards ceremony served as a reminder of the collective dedication, talent and spirit of innovation that defines the laboratory.