ADELPHI, Md. -- Every year, the Army remains ready to combat new challenges through the critical, disruptive research of its scientific and technological enterprise.
The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory celebrated the bold thinking, unwavering commitment and interdisciplinary collaboration of its scientific and business teammates at the 31st Annual ARL Honorary Awards ceremony at the Adelphi Laboratory Center Aug. 13.
For the first time in honorary awards history, ARL’s band, the Oracles of Adelphi, kickstarted the event and welcomed everyone.
The band is comprised of ARL professionals and supported by DEVCOM Deputy to the Commanding General Dr. Eric Moore, who started the group earlier this year while he was the acting ARL director.
During her opening remarks, Acting ARL Director Kimberly Ploskonka emphasized the importance of each ARL teammate to the Army’s mission of maintaining war-winning readiness.
“Today is about the ARL workforce. The heartbeat of our laboratory,” she said. “When we empower our people, we secure our Army’s decisive advantage for the future. Thank you for being here and what you deliver for the Army and the nation.”
Though Moore was unable to attend the ceremony, his forward echoed Ploskonka’s sentiment, stating, “Every single breakthrough celebrated today—and every seamless administrative and operational process that made those breakthroughs possible—sets the standard of excellence. [ARL’s research] informs the very technology that can mean the difference between life and death for our Soldiers on the battlefield.”
This year, ARL received a total of 101 nominations across 20 categories, representing a cohort of teammates, collaborators and partners within the Army S&T community.
The following honorees received an award for their exceptional accomplishments:
Early Career Award: Exceptional scientific, technical or analytic work from employees less than five years from their last academic degree or postdoctoral research associateship.
Winner: Dr. Jose A. Wippold
Administrative Excellence Award: Individuals or teams who made extraordinary contributions in support functions and operations essential to the functioning of ARL.
Winner: Sustaining Mission Readiness Through Workforce Transformation Team - Natalie A. Simon, Christina L. Bryant, Christopher S. Tahaney, Deanna L. Patton, Tracey L. Reed, Kelly H. Thayer, Caitlyn N. Seifert, Austin R. Leonard, Laura S. Smith, David L. Kauffman, Tarasa R. Miller, Johanna M. Garcia, Richard J. Black, Kristen M. Lafond, Anthony R. Wong.
Brad Forch Mentoring Award: Mentors (science, technical or administrative) who have excelled at mentoring others and embodied the Army profession by their commitment and impact on developing, inspiring and motivating others.
Winner: Dr. Thomas N. Rohrabaugh, Jr.
Community Service: Outreach programs in communities where ARL and/or its employees reside that significantly exceed normal expectations in impact or the level of the employee’s personal effort.
Winners: Mariela M. Beck, Dr. Brittany M. Story
Entrepreneurship: Individuals that demonstrate a passionate mindset, optimistic attitude and open-minded approach to actively seeking out opportunities and change to have an impact on the future Warfighter.
Winner: Brian E. Placzankis
Impactful Communication: Individual, or a team of individuals, who communicated their science or technology achievement in a form that is broadly accessible to non-specialists and highly impactful.
Winners: Dr. Travis P. Pollard, Dr. Marshall Schroeder, Sarah K. Maxwell, Dr. Oleg A. Borodin, David E. McNally.
Impactful Teaming: A single award for contributions to a team that delivers results with positive impact.
Winner: xTechPacific Planning and Execution Team - Dr. Arwen H. DeCostanza, Jessica M. Stillman, Jaime N. Wilson, Mark D. Miltenberger, David Chau (DEVCOM AC), MAJ Michael Rose, Ed Hewitt, SCPO Krystal Meza, CW2 Matthew Davis, MSG Matthew R. Janis, Patrick Gordon (contractor), John Coomer (contractor), Brian L. Gazaway (contractor), Autumn D. Stake (contractor), Trevor Brison (contractor), Francesca M. Winborn (contractor)
Laboratory Operations: Extraordinary achievements by employees who are responsible for the day-to-day activities, functions and/or operations of ARL.
Winner: Benjamin L. Alexander
Leadership: Individuals who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in furthering the accomplishment of ARL’s mission.
Winner: Dr. Katherine L. Akingbade
Outstanding Soldier: A Soldier that has gone above and beyond in their job performance and outreach efforts to better the organization through mentorship, self-improvement and volunteer efforts in communities where ARL resides.
Winner: Maj. Derek S. Vanino
Outstanding Supervisor: Outstanding supervisory responsibilities in the execution of ARL’s mission.
Winner: Gihan B. Oraby
Research Management: Individuals who have demonstrated excellence in management of external research programs that resulted in a scientific breakthrough that will significantly improve the Army’s technical capability.
Winner: Dr. Miguel Hinojosa
Safety: Individuals who have eliminated significant safety risks and ensured a safer environment for personnel and operations at ARL.
Winner: Dr. Joshua M. Sadler
Science: Excellence in science, including any scientific discipline, basic or applied, as reflected in a specific achievement by an individual.
Winner: Dr. Matthew E. Trusheim
Seminal Work: Authors of published, authoritative/comprehensive works in the various ARL disciplines that are expected to become “classic” in their fields and referenced often in others’ work.
Winners: Dr. Kristopher A. Darling, Dr. B. Chad Hornbuckle, Dr. Mansa Rajagopalan, Dr. Mageshwari Komarasamy, Dr. Mehul A. Bhatia, Dr. Rajiv S Mishra, Dr. Kiran N. Solanki
Service Oriented: Individuals who demonstrate a commitment to finding solutions that meet customer or consumer needs.
Winners: Steven W. Artymowicz, Tamara R. Christenson
Technically Bold: Individuals who take on calculated risks to accelerate new, creative and/or innovative discoveries.
Winner: Dr. Jeffrey T. Hansberger
Technician: Individual or team/group of laboratory technicians who have demonstrated excellence as reflected in a specific achievement.
Winner: Damian Krzeminski
ARL Director’s Award: Individuals and teams who have uniquely distinguished themselves in support of the Army corporate laboratory’s mission to conduct disruptive foundational research, impact concept development and engage with the global academic community to conduct high-risk, Army-unique research.
Winners: Human Resources Excellence Team: Natalie A. Simon, Christina L. Bryant, Christopher S. Tahaney, Sarah M. Wheat, Deanna L. Patton, Tracey L. Reed, Kelly H. Thayer, Lawrence E. Wade, Caitlyn N. Seifert, Austin R. Leonard, Laura S. Smith, David L. Kauffman, Tarasa R. Miller, Johanna M. Garcia, Ashley N. Wettig, Michael Henley, Thereasa N. Alvarez, Stacy L. Hackbarth
Winners: Operation BenchConnect Team: William R. Allmon, Dr. Fikadu T. Dagefu, Seth T. Halsey, Dr. Mark T. Kozlowski, Jeffrey T. Lindeman (contractor), RayLynne Walters (contractor)
Winners: The Strengthening Teamwork for Robust Operations in Novel Groups (STRONG) Collaborative Research Alliance (CRA) Team: Dr. David L. Boothe Jr., Dr. Chloe A. H. Callahan-Flintoft, Dr. Arwen H. Decostanza, Dr. Benjamin T. Files, Dr. Sean M. Fitzhugh, Dr. Javier Garcia, Katelynn F. Howard, Dr. Kaleb G. McDowell, Dr. Kelvin S. Oie, Dr. Charlene K. Stokes, Dr. Brittany M. Story
Lifetime Achievement Award: A former ARL employee, military or civilian, supervisory or non-supervisory, who retired from ARL, or retired from another organization after a substantial career at ARL.
Winners: Bruce R. Geil, Dr. Alexander Kott, Dr. Rose A. Pesce-Rodriguez
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DEVCOM ARL is the Army’s sole fundamental research laboratory serving as the nexus of science between the military, academia and industry. Operating under U.S. Army Futures and Concepts Command and the U.S. Army Transformation and Training Command, ARL executes globally recognized research to accelerate delivery of war-winning, disruptive technologies for tomorrow’s Army.
For information, visit the Army Research Laboratory website.
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