March 8, 2023
Staff Accomplishment

PNNL Staff Members Receive DOE Secretary Honor Awards

Contributions to mission recognized—from Hanford tank waste cleanup to sustainable aviation fuels, to support for Ukraine

Logo of the Secretary's Honor Awards

Logo: U.S. Department of Energy

Congratulations to the 15 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) staff members who recently received Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Honor Awards for their work on teams supporting DOE missions! The annual Secretary’s Honor Awards are among the highest forms of internal recognition DOE’s federal and contractor employees can receive and recognize those who go above and beyond in service to the country.

Derrick Seiner was a member of the Hanford Tank Side Cesium Removal Demonstration Integrated Project Team, which is performing large-scale treatment of radioactive and chemical waste from Hanford’s stored tank waste for the first time. This demonstration was also a significant event to transition the workforce from construction and testing activities to what will soon be 24/7 operation of the Direct-Feed Low-Activity Waste program on the Hanford site.

Corinne Drennan was a member of the Sustainable Aviation Fuels Grand Challenge Team, which was launched in 2021 to inspire the dramatic increase in the production of sustainable aviation fuels to at least 3 billion gallons per year by 2030. The team’s effort culminated in a roadmap that outlined a comprehensive strategy for scaling up new technologies to produce sustainable aviation fuel commercially.

Justin Day was on the Civil Nuclear Credit Program Implementation Team. This program is a $6 billion strategic investment through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help preserve the existing U.S. reactor fleet. For this program, Day implemented PNNL’s Comment Response Management System (CRMS), which improves the ability for agencies to identify and respond to public comments in a transparent manner. CRMS helped DOE understand the extent of stakeholder concern about preserving the U.S. nuclear fleet. 

Jim Ang was a member of the Driving U.S. Competitiveness and Innovations Team. This team facilitated eight virtual panel discussions as part of the congressional briefing series that provided a platform for American industry leaders and national laboratory scientists to speak directly with congressional staffers ahead of the CHIPS and Science Act. The topics concerned the productivity of public-private collaborations to accelerate emergent technologies and American leadership in artificial intelligence, microelectronics, quantum information sciences, bioeconomy, and materials and chemistry for clean energy. These discussions emphasized the productivity of the collaborations enabled by the Office of Science and how partnership between DOE and American companies accelerates the nation’s competitiveness and innovation.

Shawn Datres, Jeremy Jamison, David Linville, Angela Moore, Craig W. Nelson, Christine Noonan, Zach Palmer, Greg Patton, David Puzycki, Shonna Rydstrom, and William Yaegle were members of the Ukraine Detection Assistance Team, which quickly responded to Russia’s invasion and provided Ukraine with much needed equipment and support in a time of great need.