APL Recognizes Top Inventions, Innovations and Publications

Press Release

APL Recognizes Top Inventions, Innovations and Publications

Apr 29, 2015

A technology for promoting nerve growth that significantly advances prosthetic devices was selected as The ��ֱ�� University Applied Physics Laboratory’s Invention of the Year.

The award was presented April 28 at APL’s annual Achievement Awards ceremony, which also recognized top innovations, publications and research and development at the Laboratory during 2014.

“Being nominated for the 16 achievement awards is a major accomplishment in itself,” said APL Assistant Director for Science and Technology Jerry Krill. “The people and teams honored with these awards represent a very small portion of our staff, and they should be very proud of this achievement.”

Award Winners

Invention of the Year: Jason Tiffany, selected for advances in tissue engineering that encourage nerve growth and radically increase the number of nerve connections
Master Inventor Award: Charles Kerechanin, selected in recognition of 11 patents issued to him while working at APL (Click here to see a video about his award.)
Government Purpose Innovation Award: Patrick Allen and Steven Handy, selected for a network defense technology that uses virtualized, sensor decoys to increase the scope, scale and complexity for network attackers
Ignition Grant Award for Technical Innovation: Awarded to Christopher Krupiarz, Nathaniel Parsons, David Edell and William Van Besien for their innovative use of a commercial, unmanned aerial vehicle as a software development platform for testing developmental software for spacecraft
Innovation Grant Award for Learning: Awarded to Tara Echlin, Mars Gralia, Bruce Ballard, Robert Berardino, James Bogard, Zaza Soriano and Brian Taylor for their development of an Arduino course
Mission Accomplishment Award for Current Challenge: Awarded to Aman Johal, Amy Castner, Paul Velez, Eric Naber, Davie Katz, John Osborne, Emily Ronald, Rodney Jokerst and Reuben Johnston for a pioneering work that establishes APL as a technical leader in the field of telematics
Mission Accomplishment Award for Emerging Challenge: Awarded to Dan Dockery, Don Chesley, Charles Farthing, Christopher Barker and Eric Thews for their work on the Navy’s next-generation air and missile defense radar (AMDR)

Publication Award Winners

Author’s First Paper in a Journal or Proceedings: Matina Gkioulidou, for “The role of small-scale ion injections in the buildup of Earth’s ring current pressure: Van Allen Probes observations of the 17 March 2013 storm”
Outstanding Paper in the ��ֱ�� APL Technical Digest (The Walter G. Berl Award): Ronald Vervack, Jeng-Hwa Yee, William Swartz, Robert DeMajistre and Larry Paxton, “The MSX/UVISI Stellar Occultation Experiments: Proof-of-Concept Demonstration of a New Approach to Remote Sensing of Earth’s Atmosphere”
Outstanding Research Paper in an Externally Refereed Journal Publication: David Clader, “Quantum Networking of Microwave Photons using Optical Fibers”
Outstanding Development Paper in an Externally Refereed Journal Publication: Eric Adles, Michael Dennis, Timothy McKenna, Joseph Sluz, Raymond Sova and Radha Venkat, “Blind Optical Modulation Format Identification from Physical Layer Characteristics”
Outstanding Professional Book: Ralph Lorenz, DUNE WORLDS: How windblown sand shapes planetary landscapes
Outstanding Special Publication: Nicola Fox, editor of the book The Van Allen Probes Mission

Hart Prizes for Excellence in Independent Research and Development

Best Research Project: Machine Intelligence from Cortical Networks (MICrONS), with principal leaders Will Gray Roncal, Dean Kleissas and Mark Chevillet
Best Development Project: Command and Control of Deeply Placed Capabilities (C2DEEP), with primary contributors Steven Jones, Jarriel Cook, Jerry Hampton and Feng Ouyang

Enterprise Accomplishment Award

Central Spark Implementation Team, with principal contributors Kris Bell, Angie Boampong, Cathy Colangelo, Steve Ferraro, Wendy Hess, Greg Hustead, Ann Kedia, Dennis Smith, Don Vislay and Sue Watkins

**Winners of the Master Inventor Award.** Credit: ��ֱ�� APL

**Winner of the Government Purpose Invention Award.** Credit: ��ֱ�� APL

**Winners of the Ignition Grant Prize for Innovation Technical Category Award.** Credit: ��ֱ�� APL

**Winners of the Ignition Grant Prize for Innovation Learning Category Award.** Credit: ��ֱ�� APL

**Winners of the Outstanding Mission Accomplishment.** Credit: ��ֱ�� APL

**Winner of the Outstanding Mission Accomplishment.** Credit: ��ֱ�� APL

**Winners of the Walter G. Berl Award.** Credit: ��ֱ�� APL

**Winner of the Publication Award.** Credit: ��ֱ�� APL

**Winners of the R. W. Hart Award.** Credit: ��ֱ�� APL

**Winners of the Enterprise Accomplishment.** Credit: ��ֱ�� APL

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

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