FPN07-10

Steve Zinkle Receives Lawrence Award

February 8, 2007

Steven J. Zinkle (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) has been named a winner of the Department of Energy's Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award, which honors midcareer scientists and engineers for exceptional contributions in research and development.He has long been responsible for the development of reduced-activation materials that one day may be used as structural materials for fusion power plants.

Zinkle, a UT-Battelle Corporate Fellow and director of ORNL's Materials Science and Technology Division, is a materials scientist whose work has focused on physical metallurgy of structural materials and the investigation of radiation's effects on ceramic materials and metallic alloys for fusion and fission reactors and space reactor systems.

"These brilliant scientists and their varied and important research inspire us," Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman said. "Their work reminds us of the importance of continued investment in science and the need for increased emphasis on basic research and math and science education programs."

More information on the E.O Lawrence Award is available at the DOE website: http://www.energy.gov/news/4769.htm.

Zinkle's award for nuclear technology, one of eight Lawrence Awards announced Wednesday, cites his work in broadening the understanding of performance limits on materials subjected to extreme, highly radioactive environments such as those found in nuclear reactors and reactor-powered spacecraft.

"This Lawrence Award is terrific news for both Steve and ORNL," said ORNL Director Jeffrey Wadsworth. "Steve's achievements illustrate the critical importance of the materials sciences to the nation's competitiveness in an increasingly global economy."

The award is named for E.O. Lawrence, the Nobel-prize winning scientist whose inventions include the cyclotron and the calutron, the latter of which was critical to the success of the wartime Manhattan Project.

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a doctorate in nuclear engineering and at master's degree in materials science, Zinkle arrived at ORNL in 1985 as a Eugene Wigner fellow. He became leader of the laboratory's nuclear materials & science technology group in 2001. He was named director of the Materials Science & Technology Division in 2006.

A native of Wauzeka, Wisc., Zinkle is the author or coauthor of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications. He is a fellow of the American Ceramic Society and ASM International.

Zinkle joined ORNL in 1985 as a Wigner fellow. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees and a doctorate in nuclear engineering, as well as a master's degree in materials science, from the University of Wisconsin. He and his wife, Teresa, reside in Knoxville. They have two sons.