HFIR and SNS staff were featured prominantly at the annual Awards Night event hosted on November 18 by UT-Battelle, the management and operating contractor of ORNL for the Department of Energy.

A discovery that advances the understanding of quantum spin liquids in real materials received the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director's Award for Outstanding Team Accomplishment. The multidisciplinary team's efforts culminated in the observation of fractionalized quantum spin liquid excitations, which may represent a step toward solid-state technology for quantum computers. The team, led by the Neutron Sciences Directorate's Arnab Banerjee, also includes Adam Aczel, Craig Bridges, Garrett Granroth, Mark Lumsden, David Mandrus, Stephen Nagler, Matthew Stone, Alan Tennant and Jiaqiang Yan. The team also received the team Research Accomplishment award.

Awards Night winners are selected by committees and approved by the Laboratory director. Nominations are made by division, program or directorate managers. The Director's Awards are selected by the laboratory director with input from the deputy director for science and technology and the deputy director for operations.

Additional awards night winners from Neutron Sciences include: 

  • Mission Support

    Dayrl Briggs, Michael Baumgartner, Dale Hensley, Kevin Lester, Chris Luck, Michael Plum, Jeremy Price, Scott Retterer, Bernadeta R. Srijanto, Leslie Wilson - For successful execution of a complex project to improve the synthesis, production, and performance of the diamond stripper foils that are essential to the operation of the Spallation Neutron Source.

  • Mission Support by Bargaining Unit Staff

    Jessica Langstaff, David Brackett, Jeffery Connell, William Giles, Jody Mullins, Brian Pridemore, Craig Seiber, Wayne Underwood, Billy Walker, Jack Ward, Michael Watkins - For safely isolating, excavating, and repairing a failed water main under adverse conditions, including inclement weather and difficulty in obtaining materials, and for the initiative, dedication, and professionalism that team members exhibited in expediting the completion of this task, enabling the High Flux Isotope Reactor to resume operations on schedule after a maintenance outage. 

  • Graduate Student Researcher

    William Bradley O'Dell - For academic excellence in chemistry and structural biochemistry, outstanding service to the Spallation Neutron Source and High Flux Isotope Reactor User Group, community outreach, and the remarkable clarity of thought and aptitude for experimental science that have enabled him to conceive and successfully conduct a series of demanding experiments to elucidate the catalytic mechanism of polysaccharide monooxygenases using both X-ray and neutron diffraction techniques.