Eight postdocs received 2018 Postdoctoral Performance Awards at a recent reception held in their honor.
“Achievements in basic research, engineering research and applied research reflect diverse expertise among Argonne’s postdoctoral community and support our mission to accelerate science to drive U.S. prosperity and security,” said Laboratory Director Paul Kearns.
The awards were presented by Kearns, Amanda Petford-Long (MSD) and Supratik Guha (NST).
Recipients in the basic research category were Avik Halder (MSD) and Qingteng Zhang (XSD). “Dr. Zhang has excelled in research using X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy, and in problem-solving and collaborative leadership that has led to the development of advanced X-P-C-S technology,” Petford-Long said in presenting the award. “These successes have in turn provided high confidence to Argonne and DOE management that the key technical and scientific goals of the APS upgrade would be met – with X-P-C-S as a promised feature capability.”
“Dr. Halder has significantly contributed to fundamental research for energy conversion and storage, which is especially important to the mission of Argonne and the Department of Energy,” said Guha. “His outstanding intellectual contributions to the field of supported atomically precise metal clusters resulted in pioneering work in the application of clusters to catalysis and energy storage.”
In the applied research category, recipients were Hao-Cheng Yang (NST), Prithwish Kundu (ES), Cang Zhao (XSD) and Robert (Bobby) Jackson (EVS).
“Dr. Kundu has been responsible for developments in combustion research that have led to significant cost savings and exciting implications for national security,” Guha said in presenting the award. “His leadership in the national security arena has extended the lab’s expertise in combustion modeling into gas turbine and hypersonic research – where his results are regularly used by the prestigious National Jet Fuel Combustion Program.”
Of Yang, Petford-Long said, “Dr. Yang has already made several impactful contributions to materials-for-water research and the use of Janus membranes in water applications. His nomination noted his tremendous impact on the DOE mission areas related to the energy-water nexus.”
“Dr. Zhao of the X-ray Science division has performed pioneering work that has resulted in major breakthroughs in the field of additive manufacturing, establishing Argonne as a major player in the field,” Guha said during the presentation. “Because of his highly impactful work, researchers can now examine many critical problems in metal additive manufacturing that couldn’t be probed before.”
Presenting the award to Jackson, Petford-Long said, “He has shown great ingenuity in applying new tools, including high performance computing, to the field of radar meteorology in support of critical DOE missions. Dr. Jackson is also key member of a multi-lab team funded by DOE’s Climate Model Validation and Development Activity, where his effectiveness in executing the DOE mission has led to additional funding for Argonne.”
Recipients in the engineering research category were Roberto Torelli (ES) and Bo Chen (ES).
Petford-Long noted of Torelli: “He has demonstrated tremendous passion for building new capabilities for high-fidelity simulations, focusing his research on two-phase flow modeling using high-performance computing. He collaborates extensively with researchers at APS to obtain high-fidelity data for validation of the models, and his work is already having a major impact in academia and industry.”
Presenting the award to Chen, Guha said, “He has developed impactful methodologies, technologies and tools that focus on smart grid cybersecurity and critical infrastructure resilience. He has leading development roles in two prominent DOE projects and also will be technical lead for a new smart grid cybersecurity project to develop an attack-resilience framework for electric distribution systems.”
In addition to the award recipients contributions to Argonne and DOE missions, Kearns told those gathered, “You will recognize many qualities the honorees have in common: generosity to colleagues; a collaborative spirit; creative problem solving, and a willingness to just work hard.”
Photo from left: Amanda Petford-Long, Laboratory Director Paul Kearns, Qingteng Zheng, Bobby Jackson, Bo Chen, Roberto Torelli, Cang Zhao, Prithwish Kundu, Supratik Guha. Not pictured: Avik Halder and Hao-Cheng Yang.