Award winning Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers, from top left, Stefano Gandolfi and Kary Myers. From bottom left, Denise Neudecker and Shizeng Lin. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

Four Los Alamos National Laboratory researchers have been awarded Laboratory Fellows' Prizes: Stefano Gandolfi, Shizeng Lin and Denise Neudecker received the Fellows' Prize for research and Kary Myers received the Fellows' Prize for Leadership.

"I congratulate Stefano, Shizeng, Denise and Kary on winning the Laboratory Fellows' Prize," Laboratory Director Thom Mason said. "Their excellence in research and leadership is the reason why the Lab is recognized as a premier research institution."

Research Prize

Stefano Gandolfi, of the Nuclear and Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology group, was awarded the Fellows' Prize for Research for his work on the nuclear many-body problem, which promises to have a great impact on previously intractable problems in nuclear physics. His work has implications on understanding nuclear properties, and on neutron star matter research, which is important for basic science and adds to the efforts to extract fundamental physics from neutron star mergers.

Shizeng Lin, of the Physics of Condensed Matter and Complex Systems group, was awarded the Fellows' Prize for Research for his contributions to the field of Skyrmion physics. His work has had an impact on quantum materials theory and has branched in multiple creative directions including superconductors, magnetism and topological defects such as vortices and skyrmions. Lin's work is widely cited and used, and he is a standard bearer for scientific theory worldwide.

Denise Neudecker, of the Materials and Physical Data group, was awarded the Fellows' Prize for Research for her major nuclear data contributions. Neudecker was among the first to bring machine learning methods to nuclear data, guided her field towards more systematically quantifying sources of uncertainties, and contributed significantly to important nuclear databases. She also has strong leadership as a principal investigator on several Laboratory projects, serves on international panels, and leads conferences and working groups.

Leadership Prize

Kary Myers, of the Space Remote Sensing and Data Science group, was awarded the Fellows' Prize in Leadership for creating inclusive communities that foster technical excellence, provide opportunities for early career researchers, and enable multidisciplinary, multiorganizational collaborations. She established the Conference on Data Analysis to connect and showcase data-focused researchers and ideas from across the Department of Energy. Myers's inspiring leadership has enhanced Los Alamos's national reputation as a leader in data science.