The Physical Sciences and Engineering (PSE) Employees of the Month program recognizes two individuals each month — one programmatic and one operations — based on the excellence of their work and demonstration of Argonne’s Core Values: Impact, Safety, Respect, Integrity and Teamwork.
August 2020 PSE Employee of the Month – Programmatic category
- Zhenzhen Yang, a scientist in Argonne’s Chemical Sciences and Engineering (CSE) division, is recognized for her recent assistance with post-cycle analysis for the division’s Advanced Electrolyte Research group. She successfully performed X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for experiments involving difficult samples that were sensitive to air and water. Her work has contributed to several published papers and has had great impact on lithium ion battery research in CSE. Her patience and competence throughout measurement and analysis reflect Argonne’s Core Values of Teamwork and Impact.
August 2020 PSE Employee of the Month – Operations category
- Matt Gott, a physicist in Argonne’s Physics division, and Hong “Jennifer” Zheng, a materials engineer in Argonne’s Materials Science division, are recognized for their initiative in coordinating and facilitating PSE’s diversity and inclusion listening sessions. They are also both active contributors in Argonne’s Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council. Through their work in this space, they are creating an environment within PSE and Argonne where diversity, equity and inclusion are valued, reflecting Argonne’s Core Values of Impact, Respect, Integrity and Teamwork.
Each month, the PSE Associate Laboratory Director and Division Directors review PSE Employees of the Month nominations and select recipients. All Argonne employees are eligible for nomination, including people within PSE and those who work with PSE. All PSE staff, postdocs and students are welcome to submit nominations. The call for nominations opens on the first of each month.
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.