2013 Brookhaven Award Recipients
July 2, 2013
Brookhaven Awards are given to recognize key contributors in support functions, whose performance and exceptional achievements represent outstanding service to Brookhaven Lab.
Ann Emrick, Biosciences Department
Ann Emrick manages the research operations support function for the Environmental, Biological, and Computational Sciences Directorate. Her broad knowledge of the science and more importantly, of the scientists and their staff, has allowed her to achieve a close working relationship and a high level of trust. Emrick is the “go to” person for almost all aspects of life in the directorate’s buildings and she is always willing to take on new assignments and challenges. She effectively communicates problems and exhibits extraordinary leadership in achieving solutions to issues that could impact the directorate and the Laboratory. In addition to her highly valuable contributions in her normal job functions, she willingly accepts requests to participate in various working groups or in peer reviews. Emrick’s efforts have significantly contributed to a stellar safety performance over the years and have kept the entire directorate running smoothly.
Diane Hatton, Photon Sciences Directorate
Diane Hatton has made major contributions to the success of Brookhaven Lab over the course of a distinguished 30-year career here. This is especially true with the National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), a critical institutional objective for the Laboratory that would not have achieved the success it has enjoyed without Hatton. She played a key leadership role in efforts to seek approval for NSLS-II and then planned and built a project support organization that has proven to be incredibly effective in enabling execution of this billion-dollar project. It has served as a model for projects elsewhere.
Hatton’s capabilities are widely recognized and highly regarded within the DOE complex. When she became the chief operating officer for the Photon Sciences Directorate in 2011, she took on a pivotal role to help the directorate achieve operational excellence.
Hatton has proven to be an exceptionally gifted business executive, a superb administrator, natural leader, talented manager, and outstanding and highly visible role model.
Bruce Penn, Business Operations Directorate
Bruce Penn represents the operational discipline desired by Brookhaven Lab. He has embraced the change agenda of the Business Operations Directorate and maintained a very high level of excellence. In fiscal year 2012 he assumed significant additional responsibilities—under Penn’s careful business leadership, all of his assigned directorates completed the year within some very significant budget limitations.
Penn was instrumental in satisfying the Department of Energy’s requirement to close all environmental management contracts. Historically, contract closeout has not been an area of strong performance, but Penn worked across organizational lines and with BHSO to accomplish this stretch goal.
As the lead of the Lab’s traffic safety committee, Penn is tenacious in the pursuit of improved traffic and pedestrian safety at the Lab. He has been instrumental in making many improvements over the past years.
Penn takes to heart the Lab's effort to improve "crucial conversations," engaging in earnest with staff at all levels at the Laboratory to achieve the outcomes needed.
Richard Ruggiero, Physics Department
Richard Ruggiero has been the lead designer for the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) for the past 20 years. Over this period, he has been intimately involved in the design, engineering, fabrication, testing, and installation of virtually all mechanical systems, assemblies, components, fixtures, and tooling comprising PHENIX’s 20 detector subsystems, ancillary support systems, and physical infrastructure.
Ruggiero’s work has been essential to the success of the PHENIX collaboration. His original and innovative mechanical designs, along with his great attention to detail, enable all detector subsystems to meet stringent performance specifications and allow for efficient installation to be performed in a manner that is safe for both personnel and equipment, without limiting the requirements for future maintenance and upgrades.
Ruggiero’s recent contributions to the PHENIX silicon vertex detector and resistive-plate chambers have helped PHENIX add vital new physics capabilities, keeping us on the leading edge of scientific research as we continue into our second decade of operation.
Ruggiero continues to play a vital role in designing new and novel detector systems, and mechanical support structures that will allow PHENIX to evolve into sPHENIX and lead the way to the next generation of RHIC.
Gary Welch, Human Resources and Occupational Medicine Division
Gary Welch is recognized for his outstanding service to the Laboratory by establishing a top quality on-site physical therapy (PT) service with a well-equipped facility and outstanding staff. This service provides over 4,500 treatments per year to Brookhaven Lab employees recovering from occupational or personal injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders.
Employees have overwhelmingly rated his service as excellent. They appreciate avoiding co-payments and not having to travel off-site for PT. This service has also realized the recovery of several thousand hours of productivity per year by avoiding off-site trips for PT during the workday.
Welch has developed a deep understanding of the physical challenges of work at the Lab, which has guided him in his therapy, always geared towards employees’ rapid recovery and resumption of their work duties. He has also engaged in a variety of injury prevention activities with the Lab’s Safety and Health Services, most notably the education of workers about the injury potential of their jobs and mitigation of risks.
2013-4105 | INT/EXT | Newsroom
