Federal Laboratory Consortium Announces 2026 Award Winners for Technology Transfer Excellence

Released: March 3, 2026

Federal Laboratory Consortium Announces 2026 Award Winners for Technology Transfer Excellence

(WASHINGTON, DC - March 3, 2026) - The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) is honoring 27 FLC Award winners and seven honorable mentions from five federal agencies for their contributions to technology transfer, which turns cutting-edge research into impactful products and services.

The FLC awards are the premier honors for federal technology transfer, recognizing outstanding partnerships, commercialization success stories, and the professionals who move innovations from the lab to the marketplace. 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 fusion and solar energy to grid security, from veteran healthcare to responsible biomining. Award recipients will be honored at the 2026 FLC Awards Ceremony on May 13, 2026, held during the FLC National Meeting, at The Westin Seattle. The media are welcome to attend.

"Choosing FLC Award winners from a deep and accomplished pool of submissions is a difficult task, but I believe we have one of our strongest groups of recipients in the history of our awards program," said Paul Zielinski, Executive Director of the FLC. "The work our award-winning federal laboratories, research teams, and individuals do boosts the U.S. economy, improves lives, and strengthens the technology transfer innovation ecosystem. We are honored to recognize this group of 34 awardees at our annual Awards Ceremony for their excellent work."

The 2026 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 Defense

• Army Liposome Formulation with QS21, Defense Health Agency Research & Development Medical Research and Development Command, Office of Medical Technology Transfer and Walter Reed Army Institute of Research

• AI-GUIDE, MIT Lincoln Laboratory  

Department of Energy

• Lanmodulin-Based Rare Earth Purification, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

• Ion Pair MEA for Hydrogen Fuel Cells, Los Alamos National Laboratory

• NLR's Groundbreaking Energy Storing and Efficient Air Conditioner, National Laboratory of the Rockies

• Transforming Secondary Wastewater Sources into Battery-Grade Lithium for Energy Security, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

• PNNL & SenseAI | Revolutionizing Electron Microscopy with Compressive Sensing, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

• VaporID: Portable, Rapid, Noncontact Detection of Fentanyl and Drug Vapors, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

• Government Launch Software Takes Off in Commercial Space Industry, Sandia National Laboratories

Department of Veterans Affairs

• RainDrop Dispenser Helps Veterans with Eye Treatment, Department of Veterans Affairs Technology Transfer Program

Honorable Mentions:

Department of Energy

• Monolithic Telescopes, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

• Commercialization of Intelligent Residential Heat Pump Water Heaters, National Laboratory of the Rockies

• Technology Transfer Excellence Within the BOTTLE Consortium, National Laboratory of the Rockies

U.S. Department of Agriculture

• Field Pennycress - Weed to Food, Fuel, and Feed, U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service

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

• Dimethyl Ether Desalination System Opens New Water Sources, Idaho National Laboratory

• Licensing IViz-OT Intrusion Detection Tool for Grid Security, National Laboratory of the Rockies

• Strategic Redesign: ORNL and Geovox's Enduring Global Security Partnership, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

• Glare Analysis Software Protects Lives and Maximizes Solar Energy Production, Sandia National Laboratories

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 Defense and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

• Rodent Research Demo-1 Technology, Defense Health Agency Research & Development Medical Research and Development Command, Office of Medical Technology Transfer, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, NASA

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 

• The Land of Entanglement: New Mexico's Quantum Future, Sandia National Laboratories

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER INNOVATION AWARD: Recognizes federal laboratories that successfully implemented innovative or unconventional technology transfer approaches that resulted in a significant increase in technology transfer activities.  

Department of Energy

• Students and Startups Team Up to Accelerate ORNL's Technology-Driven Commercialization, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

• Fusion Supply Chain Workshop: Scaling the Fusion Industry, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory  

Department of Veterans Affairs

• VA Technology Transfer Program Creates Commercial Development Support Program, Department of Veterans Affairs Technology Transfer Program

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 Defense 

• WRAIR's Multi-Drug Resistant Organism Repository and Surveillance Network Technology, Defense Health Agency Research & Development Medical Research and Development Command, Office of Medical Technology Transfer, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research

Department of Energy 

• Outstanding Research Team Pioneers Acid-Free Recycling and Technology Transfer Impact, Ames National Laboratory

• Vlastimil Kunc, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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 Energy 

• Kathleen McDonald, Los Alamos National Laboratory

• Dr. Eugene Cochran, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD: Recognizes the efforts of an individual technology transfer professional who has demonstrated outstanding work in the field of technology transfer and is new to technology transfer with three years or less of experience.

Department of Energy 

• Danielle Ferreira, Idaho National Laboratory

Honorable Mentions:

Department of Defense

• Amanda McCullough, Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane Division

Department of Energy

• Leanna DeMarre, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory

• Mark Wienhold, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

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 

• Jeffrey DiTullio, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center

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 intends 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.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

• Deana Jones, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. National Poultry Research Center

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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 https://www.federallabs.org.  

Media contact:   
Jeremy Dorn  
FLC Marketing and Communications Manager   
[email protected]