2014 Brookhaven Award Recipients

Brookhaven Awards are given to recognize key contributors in support functions whose performance and achievements represent outstanding service to the Laboratory. The 2014 Brookhaven Award recipients are:

Christopher Channing • Principal Engineer • Energy & Utilities Division 

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Christopher Channing

Christopher Channing is a senior project engineer in the Energy & Utilities Division's Energy Management Group. He is an "engineer's engineer" who others come to for help. Since arriving at the Lab 20 years ago, he has made significant contributions to mitigate liabilities and risks, helping the Lab avoid costs to save millions of dollars.

Chris is patient, persistent, and a recognized expert in the design and construction of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems; plumbing; high-pressure piping; chilled water, reverse osmosis, and steam systems; dry room and clean room controls; and more.

Chris' creative, cost-effective solutions have addressed engineering and operational challenges across the Lab. For the National Synchrotron Light Source II, he developed a system to maintain temperatures within one half of one tenth of one degree in a tunnel 2,500 feet long. He provided engineering expertise for cooling systems at the PHENIX detector and RIKEN BNL Research Center, and he was instrumental in delivering the Lab's first dry room at the Interdisciplinary Science Building. He is also on several committees responsible for projects to maintain and improve the Lab's infrastructure.

Hsiao-Chaun 'Dick' Hseuh • Physicist • Photon Sciences Directorate's Accelerator Division 

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Hsiao-Chaun 'Dick' Hseuh

Hsiao-Chaun "Dick" Hseuh joined Brookhaven Lab in 1977 and for 35 years, he has worked with great success on vacuum systems for the Laboratory’s accelerators, including the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS), AGS Booster, Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), and National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II), as well as the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 

Vacuum systems are a critical part of an accelerator, and the design of such systems for a new facility requires a large range of skills, such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, surface physics, material science, plasma physics, controls, and electronics. 

Dick consistently provided high quality, innovative vacuum designs and implementations. He has boosted new technologies such as NEG coating of vacuum chambers in RHIC. As leader of the NSLS-II Vacuum Group, Dick built the complicated aluminum-based system well within budget and schedule. He resolves technical issues with novel ideas and approaches, such as the thin yet stable nickel-based chambers for fast orbit correctors, or the Ozone cleaning system for vacuum chambers. Dick managed his large staff with true leadership that put to use all the staff’s skill and experience for the benefit of NSLS-II vacuum systems. 

John Selva • Manager, Special Projects • Office of Institutional Improvement  

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John Selva

John Selva is a leader focused on improving the Laboratory's environment, safety, and health systems and services for more than a decade. His expertise with ES&H international management systems is recognized around the Department of Energy complex and beyond. His management of Brookhaven's ISO 14001 Environmental Management System and OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System has led to successful certifications by independent registrars’ year after year. Maintaining these certifications is a perennial PEMP notable and DOE expectation.

John also serves on the Laboratory's Operations Council. He has worked with other council members to ensure proposed changes are clear and add value, and he led development and implementation of a barrier analysis process to review operations that present unusual risks. 

John is now part of the Office of Institutional Improvement, where he is focused on process improvement and cost-saving initiatives.

John's collaborative demeanor, and his excellent organizational and communication skills make him a sought after team member and partner, and well deserving of the Brookhaven Award.

Jessica Wilke • Manager, Quality Representative Program • Quality Management Office 

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Jessica Wilke

Jessica Wilke has a long history of making significant contributions to the Lab at a strategic level. Her commitment and work in support of the Lab's science mission during the last two decades has been exceptional. With a broad understanding of process management and a natural ability to work with people, Jessica has played a critical role in establishing connections between the science and operations parts of the Lab. She is well respected, articulate, and certainly a team player. Jessie is always ready to take on new challenges, no matter how complicated.

Jessica was a major player in the development of the Lab's Contractor Assurance Program, and she continues to work with DOE to continuously improve this program. She's been the main point of contact for the Institutional Risk Management Committee for the last three-and-a-half years, developing the agenda and facilitating the meetings. She keeps us on track. She has also been a key contributor in the development of the Laboratory's Competitiveness Improvement Process, which uses Lean Six Sigma tools to draw out inefficiencies and waste.

Jessica is well known and respected throughout Brookhaven Lab for her work as an exceptional facilitator of highly demanding and intellectual groups, including the Lab's senior leadership team.

For her contributions to the Lab's success throughout the last 20 years, she is most deserving of the Brookhaven Award.

Susan Wong • Senior Technology Engineer • Information Technology Division 

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Susan Wong

As a Lab employee for 35 years, Susan Wong has been extremely active in supporting Lab initiatives in the areas of diversity and outreach. As a longtime co-coordinator and executive board member of the BERA Asian Pacific American Association, and an early member of Brookhaven Women in Science, she has worked tirelessly to help promote unity and awareness through educational, cultural, and social programs. 

Susan has also played a key role in the coordination of several disaster relief efforts—in 2008 to aid those impacted by an earthquake in China and flooding in Myanmar, in 2011 for the Japan Society's earthquake relief fund, and in 2013 for Typhoon Haiyan recovery efforts.

Susan dedicates much of her personal time to living Brookhaven's values both on site and away from the Lab. Her outstanding contributions continue to help promote and enhance Brookhaven's image as a diverse and compassionate institution while fostering positive attitudes at the Laboratory and in surrounding local communities.

Meet the others recognized during the 2014 employee awards ceremony.

2014-5087  |  INT/EXT  |  Newsroom