Homeland Security Award
The Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation teamed up with AgustaWestland North America, one of the largest helicopter manufacturers in the world, to present four $25,000 Homeland Security Awards each year to American individuals or companies who are making measurable and constructive contributions related to basic or advanced research which would result in significant and positive benefits to society.
The mission of the awards is to promote and encourage “cutting edge” innovation in the vast arena of homeland security, including but not limited to the detection of, prevention of or response to threats to the United States.
Homeland Security Awards were last presented in 2011.
Here is a partial list of past recipients.
Michael Sossong, Ph.D. Director of Nuclear Technology Research Decision Sciences International Corporation Dr. Sossong has revolutionized the state of the art for passive nuclear threat detection using cosmic ray muon tomography (MT). He joined Decision Sciences International Corporation as Director of Nuclear Technology Research in April 2008, leading the development of the company’s Multi-Mode Passive […]
Law Enforcement National Data Exchange FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Clarksburg, West Virginia To meet the nation’s critical need to share criminal justice life-cycle information among agencies, the FBI, in concert with its local, State, tribal and Federal partners, created the Law Enforcement National Data Exchange(N-DEx). This nationally-scaled system has been designed to share criminal […]
Milind Tambe, Ph.D. Professor of Computer Science and Industrial and Systems Engineering University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering Los Angeles, California Dr. Tambe’s research is focused on Artificial Intelligence, with an emphasis on agent-based and multi-agent systems. His research has resulted in significant advances in game theoretic algorithms that are essential to critical […]
Charles A. Gentile Head, Tritium Systems Group Princeton University – Plasma Physics Laboratory Princeton, New Jersey Mr. Gentile’s career spans over 30 continuous years in the field of nuclear research, fission power production, magnetic fusion energy (MFE) research, and inertial fusion energy (FE) research. He has worked in the commercial nuclear power sector in both […]
James J. Thomas Laboratory Fellow Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Mr. Thomas is founder and past Director of the Department of Homeland Security National Visualization and Analytics Center. His responsibilities at PNNL include establishing investment directions for Information and Computing Technology (ICT), representing ICT in and outside PNNL, leading major technology initiatives, mentoring staff, and being […]
James Jones, Ph.D. Senior Research Scientist Idaho National Laboratory Idaho Falls, Idaho Dr. James Jones is a senior research scientist at the Idaho National Laboratory, and a recognized expert in photonuclear measurement techniques. He specializes in the development of electron and charge particle accelerator technologies and advanced detection sensors for nuclear treaty verification, illicit material […]
Douglas L. McMakin Staff Engineer Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland, Washington Mr. Douglas L. McMakin is Staff Engineer in the Applied Physics Group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, operated by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy, and has worked in the Radar Imaging Laboratory since 1987. As Project Manager and Technical Lead at the […]
Donna H. Branson, Ph.D. Regents Professor and Director Institute of Protective Apparel Research and Technology Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma Dr. Donna H. Branson is Director of the Institute of Protective Apparel Research and Technology and Regents Professor at Oklahoma State University. She co-led an industry-academic team of researchers from 2001-2004 to develop a prototype […]
Ronald Eaglin, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Engineering Technology University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Dr. Ronald Eaglin has designed and is currently working on Florida Integrated Network for Data Exchange and Retrieval (FINDER), a successful project that links over 120 law enforcement agencies in the State of Florida. Beginning in 2000, a group of Florida […]
Edward L. Reber, Ph.D. Staff Scientist Idaho National Laboratory Idaho Falls, Idaho Through the years, Dr. Edward L. Reber has worked on many different projects including nuclear nonproliferation, basic nuclear research, and spent nuclear fuel characterization, among others. Dr. Reber and his team at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) are currently involved in the research […]
