ROCKAWAY, N.J. -- R&D Magazine has
announced the top individual awards for 2010. Every year, the magazine’s
editors select winners for its long-running Scientist of the Year, Innovator of
the Year, and—for the second year—Young Innovator of the Year distinctions.
Tim Berners-Lee. Burt Rutan. Anthony Fauci. Werner von
Braun. The names of past scientists and inventors who have been awarded these
top individual honors read like a Who’s Who of noted innovators. This year,
three new names join this Hall of Fame of R&D:
- 2010
R&D Magazine Scientist of the Year:
Richard D. Smith, PhD, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- 2010
R&D Magazine Innovator of the Year:
Amit Goyal, Oak
Ridge National Laboratory/UT-Battelle Inc.
- 2010
R&D Magazine Young Innovator of Year:
Eric Dauler, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln
Laboratory
2010 Scientist of the Year
Richard D. Smith, PhD, a Laboratory and Battelle Fellow at Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory, Richland,
Wash., has been advancing the
science of mass spectrometry (MS) for more than three decades, making numerous
fundamental advances in scientific instrumentation, including high-throughput
electrophoresis-MS, high sensitivity liquid chromatography, and Fourier
transform MS. Over the past five years, Smith’s contributions to proteomics
measurements have laid critical groundwork for breakthrough advancements in
systems biology. Since 1983, Smith has won 10 R&D 100 Awards. Among his
other accomplishments are the development of a 3D mapping methodology for brain
disease, characterization of responses to Salmonella infection, protein
degradation patterns from breast cancer patients, and the first large-scale
population proteomics study. He has published more than 775 papers and holds 38
patents. He also serves as Director of the NIH Research
Resource Center
for Integrative Proteomics.
“I see [this Award] as recognition of the exceptional nature of the
research team I lead, as well as a validation of the importance of the research
we are conducting,” said Smith after receiving news of the Award. “It is one
thing to have an idea, but in my view the much greater challenge is in making
the idea a reality. I have been fortunate in assembling and working with an
incredibly talented team that has demonstrated time and time again the ability
to turn concept into reality.”
2010 Innovator of the Year
Amit Goyal, UT-Battelle/ORNL Corporate Fellow & Battelle Distinguished
Inventor, Oak Ridge National Laboratory/UT-Battelle Inc., Oak Ridge, Tenn.,
is best known for his contributions to the practical use of high-temperature
superconductors and his successful effort in the development and fabrication of
wires that allow HTS to be adopted in the commercial marketplace. He has also
successfully developed flexible, single-crystal-like, semiconductor substrates
for electronic device applications such as solar cells, which have led to the
formation of the startup TexMat. Pioneering new methods in fabrication,
including self-assembly, Goyal has in the last three years received three
R&D 100 Awards related to fabrication of HTS wires. His large-area,
flexible, single-crystal semiconductor substrates earned a 2010 R&D 100
Award, and Goyal has won five in all. He has published more than 300 papers,
has more than 5,000 citations, and holds 54 patents. He has also won two
Inventor of the Year Awards: Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1999, and UT-Battelle
in 2005.
“It is a tremendous
honor,” said Goyal after learning of the recognition last week. “I am indeed
humbled by the accomplishments of past recipients. To me, the award also
represents an implicit responsibility of continuing to strive towards full commercialization
of the innovations I have been involved with.”
2010 Young Innovator
of the Year
Eric Dauler, a Technical Staff member at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) Lincoln Laboratory, began his career at the National Institute of
Standards and Technology, where he made improvements to metrology techniques
using entangled photons. He continued his photonics work at Boston University
Quantum Imaging Laboratory as a research assistant developing correlation
interferometry techniques; and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where
he earned a doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science. A
researcher at Lincoln Laboratory for almost a decade, Dauler was a major
contributor to the development of superconducting nanowire single photon
detectors and Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes, both 2010 R&D 100 Award
winners. His work at Lincoln Lab has improved detector speeds, array sizes,
multi-photon detection, and detector efficiency, particularly at longer
wavelengths. Dauler is currently creating new types of detectors, including one
based on quantum dots, which may enable higher-performance, wavelength-selective
single-photon detection.
"I am very greatful and humbled that I was selected as
the Young Innovator of the Year," says Dauler. "The other finalists
were amazing; and it is a great honor to be selected."
Presentation of
Awards
Smith, Goyal, and Dauler will receive their awards on stage
at the 48th Annual R&D 100 Awards on Nov. 11, 2010 at the
Renaissance Orlando Hotel in Florida.
To learn more about this year’s individual award winners, visit www.RDmag.com and click “Awards”.
