MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – S. Pete Worden, director of NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., has been named the 2009 Federal Laboratory Consortium Laboratory Director of the Year.
The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is a nationwide network of federal laboratories that provides the forum to develop strategies and opportunities for linking laboratory mission technologies and expertise with the marketplace.
Organized in 1974, and formally chartered by the Federal Technology Transfer Act of 1986, this laboratory consortium, which consists of more than 250 federal laboratories and centers, was established to promote and strengthen technology transfer nationwide.
Worden has supported the development of competitive mission proposals, the licensing of NASA Ames’ intellectual property, and the coordination of an array of educational out-reach and internship programs to inspire and recruit future scientists and engineers who are critical to sustaining a robust technology transfer network inside and outside of NASA.
Under Worden’s leadership, NASA Ames received the NASA 2007 Software of the Year Award and the 2008 NASA Government Invention of the Year. During his tenure, NASA Ames also established a Small Spacecraft Division for small, inexpensive spacecraft missions and improved its supercomputing capability with two major supercomputer projects, the Pleiades supercomputer and Hyperwall-2, which enable NASA to meet its increasing needs for advanced visualization and analysis of large, high-dimensional simulation results.
NASA Ames also received the “Interagency Partnership Award” for its work fighting fires with NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, the USDA Forest Service, the National Interagency Fire Center and the Federal Aviation Administration. Several other NASA centers also received an “Excellence in Technology Award.”
The awards will be presented May 7, 2009 at the Federal Laboratory Consortium national meeting in Charlotte, N.C.
