Suffolk Reporter

Members of the Brookhaven National Laboratory community gathered to honor 359 colleagues for their contributions and dedication at the 2024 Employee Awards and VIP Service Celebration. The event took place on November 13 at Berkner Hall.

The ceremony highlighted several categories of awards. Among them were the Science & Technology Awards, Engineering Awards, Brookhaven Awards, Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Awards, and Distinguished Administrator Awards. Additionally, employees who have served the laboratory for 25 years or more were recognized as "VIPs."

Recipients of the Science & Technology Award included Michael Begel from the Physics Department, Yoshitaka Hatta also from Physics, Chang-Yong Nam from the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Edward O'Brien from Physics, and Deepak Raparia from the Collider-Accelerator Department.

Engineering Award honorees were Jesse Fite and Daniel Weiss from the Collider-Accelerator Department; Robert Pisani from Physics; Eric Raguzin from Instrumentation; and a team comprising Wei Xu, Weihe Xu, Juan Zhou, Hanfei Yan, and Evgeny Nazaretski from National Synchrotron Light Source II.

Brookhaven Award recipients included Dan Dandola from Business Services Directorate; Michelle McQueen from Facilities & Operations Directorate; Aleida Perez from Office of Educational Programs; and Frank Toldo from Physics.

The Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award was given to David Biersach from Information Technology Division and Fernando Camino from Center for Functional Nanomaterials.

Cynthia Biancarosa from Office of Educational Programs and Lynanne DiFilippo from Collider-Accelerator Department received Distinguished Administrator Awards.

In addition to these recognitions, several long-serving staff members were honored. Veljko Radeka marked 60 years in the Instrumentation Department. Other notable mentions include Charles Carlson with 59 years in Collider-Accelerator Department and Vincent Lo Destro with 58 years also in Collider-Accelerator.

This annual event underscores Brookhaven Lab's appreciation for its staff's hard work across various departments including Physics, Instrumentation, Business Services, Facilities & Operations among others.