Two members of the Advanced Photon Source (APS)/Photon Sciences (PSC) Directorate, and the daughter of another PSC staffer, were among the more than 70 Argonne National Laboratory community members who were honored at a virtual awards ceremony hosted by the UChicago Argonne Board of Governors on Wednesday, September 16, 2020.
The annual UChicago Argonne Board of Governors Awards honor distinguished employee performance, outstanding service to the Laboratory, and excellence in diversity and inclusion, education, and safety. In addition to recognizing the great work that takes place at Argonne throughout the year, the awards also acknowledge colleagues who have gone above and beyond to support the Lab’s COVID-19 response.
“Photon Sciences is proud of the enormous contributions made by our staff, and I heartily congratulate Jim and Yang for the recognition that they so richly deserve,” said Stephen Streiffer, Argonne Deputy Laboratory Director for Science & Technology, and Interim Associate Laboratory Director for PSC. “Jim’s contributions to the Cosmic Microwave Background–Stage 4 team and to APS-Upgrade Project leadership, and Yang’s efforts on behalf of x-ray science have been sustained and tremendous. I also congratulate the Abliz family for preparing the next generation of leaders as recognized by the scholarship awarded to their daughter, Abida.”
The PSC winners are:
Yang Ren, Physicist, X-ray Science Division Structural Science Group
Distinguished Performance Award: Recognizes a specific outstanding achievement or a distinguished record of such achievements by an employee of the laboratory in the areas of basic and applied science and engineering. He was also the 2020 recipient of the Gopal K. Shenoy Excellence in Beamline Science Award presented by the APS Users Organization.
“Throughout his career, Yang Ren has been developer and advocate for high-energy scattering methods at the APS,” said Jonathan Lang , X-ray Science Division Director. “His contributions have made the APS the leader in applying such techniques for understanding and improving novel applied materials. New types of battery cathodes, catalysts, ferroelectrics, shape-memory alloys, and high-strength steels are just few areas where Yang’s work has had a substantial impact.”
Jim Kerby, Chief Project Officer, APS Upgrade Project, Photon Sciences Directorate
UChicago/Argonne Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in Collaborative Research: As a member of the Cosmic Microwave Background–Stage 4 team, Jim received the award for collaboration with colleagues who demonstrated remarkable teamwork in the face of long odds and significant challenges. They invested months to prepare the lead lab proposal, collaborating with the University of Chicago and Fermilab. They set a vision and presented their case to lead a trailblazing exploration of the earliest moments of our universe. Their efforts to bring the entire science community together to expand our fundamental understanding of time and space was inspiring.
Abida Asker, whose mother, Melike Abliz, is a physicist with the Mechanical Systems and Insertion Devices groups in the APS Upgrade Project
University of Chicago Scholarship