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 American Chemical Society paid tribute to Sandian Jim Miller 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.
The Chinese Institute of Engineers, USA and the National Engineers Week Foundation named Sandian Wen Hsu a recipient of the 2007 Asian American Engineer of the Year award. Hsu was recognized for his outstanding achievements as a professional engineer — he has authored more than 100 publications, holds two patents, and has filed four Sandia technical disclosures — and for his many contributions to the community.
Hsu came to Sandia in 1981 after receiving his Ph.D. in astrophysical sciences from Princeton University. He began work in magnetic-fusion research and made several critical discoveries in edge-plasma physics and plasma–material interactions. In the late 1980s, Hsu developed a molecular-beam, mass-spectrometry diagnostic tool that measured the concentration of reactive chemical species in chemical-vapor deposition reactors with unprecedented sensitivity and accuracy.
In the 1990s, Hsu became interested in the impact of science and technology on society and government policies. He participated in the government-initiated U.S./China Lab-to-Lab program to engage Chinese-government decision makers on arms control. Hsu became an expert on the Chinese nuclear industry — its origin, governing bodies, and future direction — and provided briefings for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the State Department, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and many nongovernment organizations.
Hsu is currently the manager of Sandia’s Remote Sensing and Energetic Materials Department, a multimillion-dollar program to develop fiber lasers. The program’s potential to revolutionize high-power laser technology is well recognized in the international community and has attracted direct funding from DOE, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Homeland Security.
The Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation (HENAAC) has selected Sandian Monica Martinez-Canales as a 2007 Luminary Honoree. Luminaries represent top Hispanic professionals in engineering, science, and technology and are recognized for their significant contributions to the Hispanic technical community. HENAAC believes these individuals will continue to carry the torch at their respective organizations and inspire future generations to pursue careers in technology.
Martinez-Canales first came to Sandia/California in 1992 as an intern in the Department of Computational Science and Engineering after receiving a B.S. in mathematics from Stanford University. She went on to complete a Ph.D. in computational and applied mathematics from Rice University, where she specialized in numerical analysis, and a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford’s Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences. In 2000, Martinez-Canales joined Sandia’s Mathematics, Informatics, and Decision Sciences department as a full-time mathematician.
During her tenure at Sandia, Martinez-Canales has received many awards for her technical achievements on both a team and individual level. She is now a senior member of technical staff in the Advanced Software Research and Development department where she is developing decision support methods and tools that capture uncertainty and trade-off evaluations for high-consequence environments. This research will lay the groundwork for effective decision making under uncertainty in national-defense and national-security decision support programs.
In addition to her technical research achievements, Martinez-Canales actively mentors young mathematicians and supports professional organizations that prepare and train diverse individuals to excel in mathematics and to thrive in scientific careers. She is a life member of the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) and has served as a committee chair, symposium organizer, and abstract reviewer for the SACNAS annual meetings. She also helped found a Diversity Day graduate-student workshop for the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.
Martinez-Canales is a long-time supporter and contributor to the Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing conference, an event held every two years to celebrate the technical contributions and career interests of diverse people in computing fields, and is the 2007 conference chair. She is also active in the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and is part of the “Latinas in Computing” panel at the Institute’s 2007 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference.