Brad Ward and Zhiyong Xia

Invention of the Year. Pictured from left to right are Brad Ward and Zhiyong Xia.

Credit: Johns Hopkins APL

Press Release

APL Recognizes World-Class Expertise at 2016 Achievement Awards

Apr 20, 2016

A cost-effective, multifunctional water purification membrane that can simultaneously remove pathogens and toxic heavy metals, such as lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium, was selected as the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s Invention of the Year.

The award was presented April 19 at APL’s annual Achievement Awards ceremony, which also recognized the Laboratory’s top publications, research and development programs, Ignition Grants, mission accomplishments and enterprise accomplishments during 2015.

Award Winners

  • Invention of the Year: Zhiyong Xia and Brad Ward for their novel water filtration membrane
  • Government Purpose Innovation Award: Tim Magnani and Jay Song for an advanced radio frequency jamming prototype that provides more realistic representations of false targets
  • Ignition Grant Prize: Awarded to Jason Johnson for collaborating on the design of an innovative one-piece suit that protects health care workers from the spread of deadly infectious diseases
  • Mission Accomplishment Award for Current Challenge: Awarded to the New Horizons Core Mission Team — Peter Bedini, Kerri Beisser, Michael Buckley, Alice Bowman, Andrew Calloway, Christopher Hersman, Mark Holdridge, Valerie Mallder, Gabe Rogers and Harold Weaver Jr. — for executing this highly successful mission, on time and on budget, while exceeding mission requirements
  • Mission Accomplishment Award for Emerging Challenge: Awarded to Preston Dunlap, Ashley Llorens, Thomas Falk, Ed Doran and Jeremy Sotzen for their work on a project that is impacting the Department of Defense’s programmatic investments, its mission planning, and upcoming exercises and tests to develop, assess and field new approaches to defeat these time-critical targets
  • Enterprise Accomplishment: Awarded to Tom Heffner, Dennis Smith, Dave Nobles, Josh Smith and Don Noyes for building a cadre of staff members with the ability to employ Design Thinking methodologies to help find innovative and creative solutions to some of APL’s most daunting technical and organizational tasks
  • The Alvin R. Eaton Award: Awarded to Scott Radcliffe for sustained performance and exceptional scientific or engineering innovations that have directly contributed to the security of our nation

Publication Awards

  • Author’s First Paper in a Journal or Proceedings: William Gray Roncal and Dean Kleissas for “An automated images-to-graphs framework for high resolution connectomics,” published August 2015 in Frontiers in Neuroinformatics
  • Outstanding Paper in the Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest (The Walter G. Berl Award): Ralph Lorenz and Jennifer Mann for “Seakeeping on Ligeia Mare: Dynamic Response of a Floating Capsule to Waves on the Hydrocarbon Seas of Saturn’s Moon Titan”
  • Outstanding Research Paper in an Externally Refereed Journal Publication: Alan Brandt and John Rottier for “The internal wavefield generated by a towed sphere at low Froude number,” published March 2015 in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics
  • Outstanding Development Paper in an Externally Refereed Journal Publication: Kaushik Iyer and Doug Mehoke for “Interplanetary Dust Particle Shielding Capability of Spacecraft Multilayer Insulation,” published in the March/April 2015 issue of Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets
  • Outstanding Professional Book: David Challener for “A Practical Guide to TPM 2.0: Using the New Trusted Platform Module in the New Age of Security”
  • Outstanding Special Publication: Erin Hahn and William Lauber for “Legal Implications of the Status of Persons in Resistance”

Hart Prizes for Excellence in Independent Research and Development

  • Best Research Project: Neurally Integrated Computing, with principal leaders Mark Chevillet, Michael Wolmetz, Matthew Roos, Christopher Ratto and Carlos Caceres Garcia
  • Best Development Project: Enhanced Weapons of Mass Destruction Analytics, with primary contributors Aaron Katz and Michael Lieberman
Government Purpose Innovation Award. Pictured from left to right are Tim Magnani and Jay Song.
Credit: Johns Hopkins APL
Ignition Grant Prize. Jason Johnson.
Credit: Johns Hopkins APL
Mission Accomplishment Award for Current Challenge. Pictured from left to right are Christopher Hersman, Alice Bowman, Peter Bedini, Gabe Rogers, Michael Buckley, Andrew Calloway and Mark Holdridge. Awardees not pictured: Kerri Beisser, Valerie Mallder and Harold Weaver Jr
Credit: Johns Hopkins APL
Mission Accomplishment Award for Emerging Challenge. Pictured from left to right are Preston Dunlap, Jeremy Sotzen and Thomas Falk. Awardees not pictured: Ashley Llorens and Ed Doran.
Credit: Johns Hopkins APL
Enterprise Accomplishment. Pictured from left to right are Don Noyes, Josh Smith, Dennis Smith and Dave Nobles. Awardees not pictured: Tom Heffner.
Credit: Johns Hopkins APL
The Alvin R. Eaton Award. Scott Radcliffe.
Credit: Johns Hopkins APL
Author’s First Paper in a Journal or Proceedings. Pictured from left to right are Dean Kleissas and William Gray Roncal.
Credit: Johns Hopkins APL
Outstanding Paper in the Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest (The Walter G. Berl Award). Jennifer Mann. Not pictured: Ralph Lorenz.
Credit: Johns Hopkins APL
Outstanding Research Paper in an Externally Refereed Journal Publication. Pictured from left to right are John Rottier and Alan Brandt.
Credit: Johns Hopkins APL
Outstanding Development Paper in an Externally Refereed Journal Publication. Pictured from left to right are Doug Mehoke and Kaushik Iyer.
Credit: Johns Hopkins APL
Outstanding Professional Book. David Challener.
Credit: Johns Hopkins APL
Outstanding Special Publication. Pictured from left to right are Erin Hahn and William Lauber.
Credit: Johns Hopkins APL
Best Research Project. Pictured from left to right are Michael Wolmetz, Matthew Roos and Christopher Ratto. Awardees not pictured: Mark Chevillet and Carlos Caceres Garcia.
Credit: Johns Hopkins APL
Best Development Project. Aaron Katz.
Credit: Johns Hopkins APL

Areas of Impact

The Applied Physics Laboratory, a not-for-profit division of The Johns Hopkins University, meets critical national challenges through the innovative application of science and technology. For more information, visit www.jhuapl.edu.

Media Contact

Paulette Campbell
Paulette.Campbell@jhuapl.edu
240-228-6792