Sandia/California is proud of the important contributions that our staff members have made in both the arena of science and technology and in the world at large. We are pleased to highlight a few of the many honors that have been bestowed upon Sandians in recent years.
The Chinese Institute of Engineers, USA has named Sandian Jacqueline Chen a recipient of the 2009 Asian American Engineer of the Year award. The AAEOY, the only program of its kind, recognizes outstanding Asian American scientists and engineers for their significant contributions to their industries.
Chen, a technical staff member at Sandia’s Combustion Research Facility (CRF), has pioneered the use of petascale direct numerical simulations (DNSs) for turbulent combustion, with a focus on turbulence-chemistry interactions in canonical laboratory-scale flames. These simulations provide physical insight into the underlying science required to develop predictive models for designing clean and fuel-efficient internal combustion engines (ICEs) that can use 21st-century alternative fuels.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has recognized Chen’s achievements through many Office of Science awards, including DOE INCITE Awards in 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2009. The INCITE awards provide allocations on several of the nation’s most powerful supercomputers to enable world-class research into high-impact advances in science; since 2004, Chen has been awarded nearly 60 million hours of supercomputer time. These awards have enabled Sandia to move DNS into the petascale simulation sale to provide quantitative predictability.
Chen has been with Sandia for more than 25 years. She earned both of her mechanical engineering graduate degrees—a master’s from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD from Stanford University—while receiving education assistance benefits from Sandia’s University Programs. Chen’s initial project at Sandia involved the thermal analysis of the W-87. After receiving her PhD, Chen joined the CRF, which fit well with her doctoral research on compressible turbulent flows.
Her current project, “High-Fidelity Simulations for Clean and Efficient Combustion of Alternative Fuels,” is a partnership with Sandian Joe Oefelein and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The project seeks to perform high-fidelity simulations of the complex aero-thermo-chemical interactions typically encountered in ICEs with an emphasis on fuel variability. The goal of the underlying science is to optimize fuel efficiency and reduce emissions by enabling the practical application of matching diverse fuel streams—biofuels, ethanol, and dimethyl ether—with novel engine designs.
Sandian Bert Debusschere has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the U.S. government’s most prestigious commendation for scientists and engineers at early stages in their careers. These Presidential Awards recognize and nurture scientists and engineers who have shown exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge.
Debusschere, a staff member at Sandia/California’s Transportation Energy Center, is the principal investigator of “Stochastic Dynamical Systems: Spectral Methods for the Analysis of Dynamics and Predictability,” a project funded out of the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR).
In receiving the Presidential Award, Debusschere was cited for introducing rigorous, mathematical methods to quantify stochastic uncertainties in computational biology, thus improving the accuracy of simulation-based discoveries. He was also recognized for his community service to the Sandia Diversity Council and Foreign National Networking Group.
The high level of Debusschere’s mathematical rigor — quantifying the role of errors and uncertainties in mathematical and computational models — “is critical for acceptance of computational modeling in new fields (such as biology) and is an essential ingredient for computation to be accepted as basis for critical decisions that may affect our nation’s security, economic, and energy futures,” wrote Scott Collis, Sandia’s point of contact for all ASCR activities, in support of Debusschere’s successful Presidential Award application.
As a DOE Presidential Award winner, Debusschere will receive up to five years of funding from the DOE to advance his research. The DOE also presented Debusschere with the Office of Science Early Career Scientist and Engineer Award.
Debusschere develops computational and mathematical methods to study chemical and biochemical reaction networks. Applications of this work are broad, ranging from combustion to aspects of the human immune system. An increased fundamental understanding of these reaction networks may enable improvements in energy efficiency, a lessened environmental footprint, and novel biomedical approaches.
One of Debusschere’s projects analyzes reaction networks prevalent in inorganic and organic molecular systems. Small numbers of participating molecules in these networks may generate significant intrinsic noise. Based on spectral representations of stochastic processes and reduced-order modeling, Debusschere’s group develops methods to improve investigative sensitivity techniques and to determine the confidence in reaction outcome predictions.
Significant areas of contributions from Debusschere’s group include uncertainty quantification for microfluidic channel flow, classification methods for chemical and biological agent detection, and multiscale modeling for nanoporous membranes with desalination applications.
One of the newest members of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is Sandian Jim Miller, who was elected into NAE for his “research on the theory and modeling of combustion chemistry that has led to universally applied codes for combustion modeling.” Jim was one of 65 U.S. members and 9 foreign associates elected on Feb. 8, 2008.
Election to the NAE is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering research, practice, or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature,” and to the “pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or developing/implementing innovative approaches to engineering education.”
Miller was also honored in 2007 with a special issue of The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, the “James A. Miller Festschrift” (Vol. 111, Issue 19). The term “festschrift” refers to a collection of original papers written to honor a respected academic on an important date — in Miller’s case, his 60th birthday. The articles in Miller’s festschrift were written by his combustion chemistry colleagues and reflect the tremendous impact of Miller’s combustion modeling work.
To quote from the festschrift’s introduction: “Jim Miller is one of the most influential combustion modelers in the world; it is difficult to overestimate the impact that Jim Miller’s work has had on the combustion community. But because of the rigor and detail of his chemistry contributions, his remarkable influence spreads beyond the sphere of combustion to the heart of fundamental gas-phase chemical reaction theory.”
Miller began his Sandia career after receiving his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1974. He was a founding member of the Combustion Research Facility in 1980 and has been recognized as a distinguished member of Sandia’s technical staff since 1989. Miller was honored as a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2004 and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2006. In 2006, he was also awarded the Combustion Institute’s Bernard Lewis Gold Medal “for brilliant research in the field of combustion, particularly on the theory and modeling of combustion chemistry.”
Miller’s research investigates how pollutants are formed in combustion. He also devises chemical kinetic models to enable better emissions control. Miller’s work is highly cited. In fact, two of his research papers are among the most cited articles to ever appear in a combustion journal. In addition, Miller helped develop CHEMKIN, the de facto standard software for modeling chemical kinetics in combustion.
Currently, Miller is working with Stephen Klippenstein of Argonne National Laboratory to study the chemical reactions of multiple, interconnected potential wells and the thermal dissociation of weakly bound free radicals. These reactions play crucial roles in combustion chemistry, atmospheric chemistry, and chemical vapor deposition.
Sandian Rod Whitney recently received the President’s Volunteer Service Award. A letter from President George W. Bush thanked Whitney for his service, noting that “through service to others, you demonstrate the outstanding character of America and help strengthen our country.”
The President’s Volunteer Service Award was created by the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation as a way to thank and honor Americans who, by their demonstrated commitment and example, inspire others to engage in volunteer service.
Rod Whitney and his wife, Jane, at “A Glimmer of Hope,” a fundraiser for DeafHope.
While Whitney says the award was a complete surprise, it was less of a shock to those who knew him well. Over the last year, Whitney volunteered 440 hours, primarily for DeafHope, an organization that his wife, Jane, helped found and where she now serves as legal counsel.
Both Rod and Jane are hearing-impaired. A high fever damaged Rod’s hearing nerves when he was about 3 years old. Hearing loss also runs in Rod’s family.
The mission of DeafHope is to end domestic and sexual violence against Deaf women and children through empowerment, education, and services. Whitney helps DeafHope organize events and promotions. He also volunteers with Clean-Up Earth Day, the Middle School Regional Science Bowl at Las Positas College, and the Deaf Community Center in San Leandro.
Whitney works as an ECAD/MCAD designer in Sandia’s Design Definition Group. He is also a lead librarian for the nuclear weapons complex, serving Sandia and the Kansas City Plant.