2026 Director’s Awards for Lifetime Achievement
Lifetime Achievement: Michael Levi
Citation: For nearly forty years of extraordinary scientific leadership, pioneering instrumentation, and execution of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), advancing Berkeley Lab’s historic leadership as one of the world’s premier institutions for observational cosmology.
Lifetime Achievement: Carl Steefel
Citation: For developing the field of reactive transport modeling across the world and promoting Earth science research at Berkeley Lab for over twenty years.
Lifetime Achievement: Ryan Wiser
Citation: For extraordinary, decades-long contributions to renewable energy research and policy—building a world-class research program, shaping landmark legislation, and advancing the nation’s energy transition through rigorous, impactful science.
2026 Director’s Stewardship Award
Stewardship Award: Chris Beecroft
Citation: For pioneering stewardship of the JGI’s genomic data infrastructure and being a trusted partner whose commitment to Team Science, Service, and Innovation ensures research integrity and enables the future of AI-driven, collaborative discovery for the global scientific community.
Stewardship Award: Mary Ann Piette
Citation: For exceptional stewardship of Berkeley Lab’s Energy Technologies Area through visionary, people-centered leadership that strengthens collaboration, develops talent, and advances high-impact affordable energy research in service of the Lab’s mission.
2026 Director’s Awards for Exceptional Achievement
Community Building: Runaround & Finish Line Festival – Blanca Bocobo, Suzanne Budd, Katie Carney, Darrin Chavarria, John DeVito, Morgan Faulkner, Eltra Green, Miles Green, Anytra Henderson, Nick Moore, Tracy Osmer, Bryan Platte, Heather Pinto, Joey Silveira.
Citation: In recognition of the Lab’s annual Runaround and Finish Line Festival team for energizing Lab engagement through building a cross-functional partnership that has resurrected this annual event, resulting in a larger, more impactful experience for participants and increased engagement by staff.
Early Scientific Career: Dan Wang
Citation: For pioneering physics-guided, machine learning (ML)-enabled real-time control that significantly improves stability and performance of accelerator and laser systems, with broad impact across DOE national laboratories.
Early Scientific Career: Michael Whittaker
Citation: For developing and realizing a vision for creative multidisciplinary research to transform critical mineral science and technology at Berkeley Lab.
Early Scientific Career: Thorsten Hellert
Citation: For establishing Berkeley Lab as a leader in agentic AI for accelerator operations through the development of Osprey, a widely adopted platform for AI-assisted accelerator control, and for catalyzing the DOE-wide collaborations building this field’s shared foundations
Mentorship: Margaret Torn
Citation: Over a long and distinguished career, Dr. Torn’s dedication to inclusive mentorship and career development has empowered many diverse early-career scientists and built collaborative research communities that have profoundly expanded Berkeley Lab’s organizational resilience and scientific impact.
Mid-Career Leadership: Hanna Breunig
Citation: For her pioneering work at the intersection of material science and energy systems modeling, her organizational leadership, and mentorship of the next generation of scientists.
Mid-Career Leadership: Aaron Bostwick
Citation: For exceptional technical inventiveness and scientific leadership in the realization and operation of the MAESTRO beamline at the ALS, establishing it as a world-leading capability for quantum materials research.
Mid-Career Leadership: Ethan Crumlin
Citation: For leadership across the division: in fundamental science, revealing the long-“impossible” Donnan potential; at the ALS User Facility, advancing APXPS to nanosecond dynamics; in operations, helping to reorganize the Science Division Office in the Energy Sciences Area.
Mid-Career Leadership: Vivek Mutalik
Citation: Visionary mid-career leadership in establishing the Phage Foundry as a nationally visible platform for phage biology, engineering, and therapeutic innovation, while advancing team science, mentorship, and Berkeley Lab’s impact on microbial threat response.
Mid-Career Leadership: Charuleka Varadharajan
Citation: For sustained leadership in establishing EESA’s Earth AI & Data program, developing machine learning frameworks for environmental prediction, executing national open-science standards as ESS-DIVE Lead PI, and positioning LBNL teams to lead major DOE Earth-AI Initiatives.
Organizational Impact: BioEPIC Operations Team –Shelby Bemiss, Orlando Casiano, Nikki Humphreys, Ariana Hirsh, Katrina King, Don Miller, Christine Naca, Val Ramos, Naomi Reeves, Shi Wang.
Citation: For exceptional operational support in standing up scientific work in BioEPIC.
Organizational Impact: Central Chemical Receiving Facility (CCRF) –Mel Alexandre, Karla Arredondo, Rafael Brown, Evelyn Davies, Kevin Goodwin, Ari Harding, Sherwin Mendoza, Tim Montoya, James Nunez, Andrew Peterson, Ben Reynolds, Al Sanchez, Justin Shapiro, Michael Torkelson, Eli Weiss, Dan Williams, Paul Williams.
Citation: In recognition of their achievements in Organizational Impact through constructing a permanent facility and implementing processes that manage chemical arrivals, improve inventory accuracy, and support researchers.
Outreach: Alabama A&M-JGI internship program Team – Sharon Greenblum & Yi Zhai.
Citation: For outstanding mentorship and creating a life-changing experience for students in the new Alabama A&M-JGI internship program.
Outreach: Rekha Seshadri, Natalia Ivanova, & Stephen Mondo
Citation: For bringing authentic genome-enabled research directly into undergraduate classrooms via the Joint Genome Institute’s Adopt-a-Genome and Myco-Ed programs education initiatives.
Outreach: Robert Haushalter
Citation: For greatly improving the Joint BioEnergy Institute’s Introductory College Level Experience in Microbiology (iCLEM) program.
Safety: Wildland Fire Mitigation Team – John Braithwaite, Justin Bray, Shane Connor, Ian De Vries, Kevin Goodwin, Jim Hawley, James Nunez, Jeff Philliber, Ron Rodrigues, Luis Soto, Jenn Tang, Mike Torkelson, Janine Ward, Dianne Wentworth.
Citation: In treating over 2,000 trees across 37 acres in and around the Lab, the Wildland Fire Mitigation Team demonstrated exceptional dedication, innovation, and operational excellence by reducing wildfire risk, protecting people and critical assets, strengthening community partnerships, and safely executing complex vegetation management across high-risk terrain with no injuries.
Scientific: CalFlexHub Team – Shreya Agarwal, David Blum, Dmitry Bratslavsky, Brendon Milne Smith, Armando Casillas, Yash Chiplunkar, Spencer M Dutton, Vlada Dementyeva, Milica Grahovac, Peter Grant, Sang woo Ham, Weiping Huang, Donghun Kim, Anand Krishnan Prakash, Jingjing Liu, Daniel Lin Gerber, Lazlo Paul, Mary Ann Piette, Marco Pritoni, Afshan Qamar, Jordan Shackelford, Sarah Smith, Margaret Taylor, Alvin Tan, Brian Woo-Shem, Laura Wong, Rongxin Yin, Ettore Zanetti
Citation: For advancing load-flexible technologies to transform static energy loads into dynamic, grid-optimizing resources, providing the empirical foundation for industry investment, plus utility and regulatory actions to enable a secure, reliable, and affordable grid.
Scientific: Real-Time Synchrotron Imaging Analysis Team – David Abramov, Wahid Bhimji, Elizabeth Clark, Xiaoya Chong, Tanny Chavez Esparza, Alexander Hexemer, Wiebke Koepp, Dylan McReynolds, Shashank Subramanian, Peter Zwart.
Citation: For foundational work building the ALS imaging superfacility, culminating in the delivery of real-time, AI-driven analysis of microtomography experiments leveraging DOE’s high-performance networks and computing infrastructure.
Societal Impact: Interruption Cost Estimate (ICE) Calculator Team – Joseph Eto, Erica Ibrahim, Kristina LaCommare, Peter Larsen, Kelsey Miller, Sarah Poon, Virginia de la Puente, Joanna Santoro, Michael Spears, Sheriden Vince, Michelle Wong.
Citation: The ICE Calculator team created the worldwide gold standard for science-based methods to quantify the customer costs of power interruptions and inform infrastructure investments, addressing one of the most persistent and critical operational needs in the electric power sector.
Tech Transfer: Blake Simmons
Citation: For pioneering scalable biomass deconstruction technologies and exemplary contributions in technology transfer through patents, startups, and Lab leadership roles, translating Berkeley Lab innovations into sustainable, commercial solutions that advance the US bioeconomy.
