Among those honored is Dustin Froula of the University of Rochester Laboratory for Laser Energetics.

Dustin is honored for “seminal and creative contributions in fundamental laser-matter interaction physics, and laser-driven plasma accelerators that have significantly advanced the Department of Energy’s mission, including pioneering spatiotemporal pulse shaping techniques, focused laser plasma instability research, and novel high-resolution Thomson scattering methods.” Together, these achievements have addressed long-standing questions in plasma physics, led to many first-of-their-kind measurements, and represent development of new, cutting-edge concepts in plasma optics which will shape the field in years to come.

The Lawrence Award was established to honor the memory of Ernest Orlando Lawrence, who invented the cyclotron — an accelerator of subatomic particles — and was named the 1939 Nobel Laureate in Physics for that achievement. Lawrence later played a leading role in establishing the U.S. system of national laboratories, and today, the Energy Department’s national laboratories in Berkeley and Livermore, California bear his name. The eight Lawrence Award recipients announced today will receive a medal and a $20,000 honorarium and are to be honored at a virtual ceremony broadcast from Washington, DC, on January 19.

For more information about the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award and the contributions each award recipient has made to U.S. leadership in energy, science and security, please visit https://science.osti.gov/lawrence.

Dustin can be reached at dfroula@lle.rochester.edu