Released: January 23, 2025

Released: January 23, 2025

(WASHINGTON, DC - January 23, 2025) - The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is honoring 27 FLC Award winners and two honorable mentions from eight federal agencies for their contributions to technology transfer, which turns cutting-edge research into impactful products and services.

The FLC represents more than 300 federal laboratories, agencies and research centers nationwide. Through education, promotion, and the facilitation of relationships and partnerships, the FLC supports this tech transfer community to shepherd technologies out of government labs and into the marketplace, where they improve the economy, society, and national security.

This year's winners represent government-led projects focused on a range of technologies, from emission reduction to therapeutic medicine. Award recipients will be honored at the 2025 FLC Awards Ceremony on May 14, 2025, held during the FLC National Meeting, at The Westin Seattle in Seattle, Washington. The media are welcome to attend.

"This year's FLC Award winners are the best of the best in technology transfer and were chosen from the biggest pool of nominations we have ever had," said Paul Zielinski, Executive Director of the FLC. "Their work boosts the U.S. economy, generates innovation, and improves lives. We are honored to recognize a select group of technology transfer stars at our annual Awards Ceremony for their contributions to the industry and the nation."

The 2025 FLC Award winners are listed below by award category:

EXCELLENCE IN TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AWARD: Honors outstanding work by federal labs in collaborating with industry, academia, or other labs to bring technologies from the lab to the marketplace.

Department of Energy

• Next-Generation Sustainable Fuels Take Flight with Novel Bio-Fuel Catalyst, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Transforming Sustainable Construction with Self-Healing Barrier Film for Vacuum Insulation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Department of Defense

• TROPICS to Tomorrow.io: Using Small Satellites to Observe Extreme Storms, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
• Protocol-Free Encryption Device (PFED) Solves a Quantum-Sized Problem, National Security Agency Office of Research & Technology Applications

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

• Technology Transfer of Detect-and-AvoID Alerting Logic for Unmanned Systems (DAIDALUS), Langley Research Center

IMPACT AWARD: Honors FLC member labs whose technology transfer efforts have made a tangible lasting impact on the populace or marketplace ranging from a local to a global scale.

Department of Energy

• New Alloy Reduces Steel/Petrochemical Industries' Energy Consumption and Emissions, Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
• FEDS Delivers Cutting-Edge Energy Efficiency Tools to Under-Served Communities, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

• Traffic Award Planner Saves Costs and Reduces Emissions, Langley Research Center

Department of Defense

• FIRO: Agile Reservoir Management Saves Millions Through Smart Forecasting, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center

Department of Health and Human Services

• Pozelimab: First FDA-Approved Drug for an NIH-Identified Ultra-Rare Genetic Disease, National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Department of the Interior

• United States Wind Turbine Database, U.S. Geological Survey

Department of Commerce

• RaDAR Program, National Institute of Standards and Technology

INTERAGENCY TRANS-DISCIPLINARY PARTNERSHIP AWARD: Recognizes agency and/or laboratory employees from at least two different agencies who have collaboratively accomplished outstanding work in transferring a technology.

Department of Energy and Department of Health and Human Services

• ATOM (Accelerating Therapeutics for Opportunities in Medicine),Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fredrick National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory

STATE AND LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AWARD: Recognizes successful initiatives that involve partnerships between state or local level economic development groups and federal laboratories for economic benefit that have occurred during the past five fiscal years.

Department of Energy

• Fossil Fuels to Fusion Energy: Charting a Carbon-Neutral Course, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER INNOVATION AWARD: Recognizes the successful use of innovative or unconventional approaches, such as in-house competitions, to significantly increase the lab's technology transfer partnerships and results.

Department of Defense

• ARISE: Uncovering the Wealth in Diverse Perspectives, NSA Office of Research & Technology

Department of Energy

• Empowering Researchers Engaging Entrepreneurs: ORNL's Safari Program Drives Innovation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
• Visual Intellectual Property Search: An Automated, Comprehensive Database of Innovation, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

OUTSTANDING RESEARCHER/SMALL RESEARCH TEAM AWARD: Recognizes outstanding individual researchers or small research teams involved in technology transfer activities who have provided leadership and noteworthy support to the technology transfer process, furthering their agency's mission and, thus, that of the FLC.

Department of Energy

• Jake Gentle, Idaho National Laboratory
• Christina Wildfire, National Energy Technology Laboratory
• Dr. Hongyou Fan, National Nuclear Security Administration, Sandia National Laboratories

OUTSTANDING TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER PROFESSIONAL AWARD: Recognizes the efforts of an FLC laboratory technology transfer professional who has demonstrated outstanding work in transferring a technology in a manner significantly over and above what was called for in the normal course of their work.

Department of Defense

• Eric Rosenberg, U.S. Cyber Command Laboratory

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD: Recognizes the efforts of an individual FLC laboratory technology transfer professional who has demonstrated outstanding work in the field of technology transfer and new to technology transfer, with three years (or less) experience in a federal technology transfer position.

Department of Defense

• Melissa Keen, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center

Honorable Mentions:

• Bhoomija Hariprasad, Department of Veterans Affairs
• Jason Foster, NASA Johnson Space Center

HAROLD METCALF SERVICE AWARD: Recognizes an FLC member laboratory employee who has provided sustained significant service to the FLC as an organization.

Department of Defense

• Linda Burger, National Security Agency

LABORATORY DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD: The FLC National Advisory Council honors Laboratory Directors who have provided exemplary leadership in promoting, supporting, and executing the technology transfer mission of their organization. The Award's intent is to recognize the critical importance of top-down leadership and support to the overall success of a laboratory's technology transfer mission while the nominee has led this laboratory.

Department of Defense

• Dr. Angela Lewis, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division

REGIONAL AWARDS: The FLC has six regions across the country. The Regional Technology Transfer Award recognizes FLC member labs who have performed outstanding regional technology transfer activities in a specific region (i.e., region where the lab is located or where the tech transfer efforts impacted a specific region).

Far West Region (AK, AZ, CA, HI, ID, NV, OR, WA): Harnessing Silicon for Low-Cost, High-Performing Batteries, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Department of Energy

Midwest Region (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI): Technology Transfer for Beginners, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Department of Defense

Northeast Region (CT, ME, MA, NH, NJ, NY, RI, VT, Puerto Rico): Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) Technology Transition Testbed - Operational Demonstration COQUI, U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center, Department of Defense

About the FLC 
The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is a formally chartered, nationwide network of more than 300 federal laboratories, agencies and research centers that foster commercialization best practice strategies and opportunities for accelerating federal technologies from out of the labs and into the marketplace. To learn more, visit www.federallabs.org. 

Media contact:  
Andrea Nelson 
FLC Marketing and Communications Director  
1+202-926-2923
[email protected]

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