2018 Director's Awards Honorees

ETA staff members were recently honored for outstanding efforts to improve diversity, implement innovative lighting in a "Living Lab" and performing breakthrough discoveries in thirdhand smoke research.

The 2018 Director's Awards for Exceptional Achievement recognize accomplishments, leadership, collaboration, multi-disciplinary science, cross-divisional projects and commitment to excellence in support of the Lab’s mission and strategic goals.

In the Diversity category, C. Anna Spurlock of the Energy Analysis and Environmental Impacts Division was recognized for her tireless efforts to ensure the Lab is a welcoming and inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds, and for increasing the Lab’s progress in diversity, equity and inclusion. Spurlock was acknowledged for:

• Founding and leading ETA's Diversity & Inclusion Working Group
• Substantive changes in Berkeley Lab policy that could substantially increase employee access to maternity and disability leave benefits
• Originating and being a driving force behind the Berkeley Lab Inclusion Challenge

In the Team Award category, the Windows & Envelope Materials group was recognized for a four-year project which resulted in "significant scientific or technical contributions" as outlined in the nomination form by Christian Kohler, leader of the Windows group at ETA. The group was recognized for an innovative project in which they used a "Living Lab" location at Goldman Sachs in New York City to achieve:

• Overall lighting energy savings of 79%
• Peak electric demand reductions during summer afternoons of 64 to 81%
• Lessons learned are applicable to buildings anywhere

Team members included Eleanor Lee, Luis Fernandes, Taoning Wang, Stephen Selkowitz, Darryl Dickerhoff, Christoph Gehbauer, Daniel Fuller, Jordan Shackelford and Anothai Thanachareonkit.

In the Societal Impact category, a multidisciplinary, cross-divisional team conducting research on the effects of thirdhand smoke over a decade showed that thirdhand smoke, a new tobacco hazard, increases lung cancer risk in mice—an achievement vital for protecting and improving public health nationwide. Team members include Hugo Destaillats, Lara Gundel, Bo Hang, Jian-Hua Mao, Altaf Sarker, Brett Singer, Mohamad Sleiman, Antoine Snijders and Xiaochen Tang.

Other awardees at Berkeley Lab who received Director's Awards included John Bell, Phil Colella and Jim Floyd, who received Lifetime Achievement awards. For the full list of recipients, see https://recognition.lbl.gov/laureates/