Service to America Medals 2012 nominees
The Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals — or Sammies — recognize federal employees who have gone above and beyond in their work. This year, 33 feds...
The Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals — or Sammies — recognize federal employees who have gone above and beyond in their work. This year, 33 feds were named finalists in eight categories: Call to Service | Career Achievement | Citizen Services | Homeland Security | Justice and Law Enforcement | Management Excellence | National Security and International Affairs | Science and Environment.
Federal News Radio will interview the finalists leading up to the awards ceremony in September.
Hover over photo for details about the nominee. All photos by Sam Kittner/Kittner.com.
Call to Service
SHANE MORRIS
State Department
Supervisor, Diplomatic Courier Service
Germany
Morris’ work ensured U.S. diplomats in the Middle East could dispatch and receive classified documents and equipment during the Arab Spring uprisings.
JACOB TAYLOR
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Physicist
Gaithersburg, Md.
Taylor’s innovation could lead to medical imaging in microscopic detail.
DEBORAH TEMKIN
Department of Education
Research and Policy Coordinator for Bulling Prevention Initiatives
Washington, D.C.
Temkin leads the governmentwide campaign against bullying, working with the White House, agencies and school districts.
Career Achievement
JAMES CASH
National Transportation Safety Board
Chief Technical Advisor, Office of Research and Engineering
Washington, D.C.
For nearly three decades, Cash has used his engineering expertise to extract information from airplane cockpit recorders to determine the causes of major transportation accidents.
H. ALLEN DOBBS
Health and Human Services
Chief Medical Officer, National Disaster Medical System
Washington, D.C.
Dobbs created electronic systems to track the medical treatment to disaster victims, allowing medical teams to quickly assess emerging threats and resource needs.
PATRICIA HAYES
Veterans Affairs Department
Chief Consultant, Women Veterans Health Strategic Health Care Group
Washington, D.C.
Hayes spent her career breaking down barriers and advancing the needs of women in a male-dominated veterans health care system.
LYNNE MOFENSON
National Institutes of Health
Branch Chief, Pediatric, Adolescent and Maternal AIDS Branch
Rockville, Md.
Mofensen played a pivotal role in preventing the spread of AIDS among children by studying ways to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
Citizen Services
SUSAN ANGELL, MARK JOHNSTON & HOMELESS VETERANS INITIATIVE TEAM
Veterans Affairs Department
Executive Director of Veterans Homeless Iniatives (angell) and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Sepcial Needs in Office of Community Planning and Development (Johnston)
Washington, D.C.
The VA team helped reduced veteran homelessness by 12 percent in one year as part of a national goal of eliminating veteran homeless by 2015.
HEIDI KING & JAMES BATTLES
DoD & HHS
Director, Patient Safety Solutions at TRICARE Management Activity (King) and Social Science Analyst, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (Battles)
Washington, D.C.
The training program developed by King and Battles has eliminated thousands of preventable patient deaths each year due to medical errors.
LIVIA MARQUES
Agriculture Department
Director, People’s Garden Initiative
Washington, D.C.
Marques led a nationwide initiative that resulted in 1,600 community gardens.
MICHAEL McBRIDE
IRS
Supervisory Financial Analyst
Atlanta, Ga.
McBride enlisted nearly 90,000 volunteers to prepare millions of federal tax returns for disadvantaged filers.
LANCE RODEWALD
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Director, Immunization Services Division
Atlanta, Ga.
Rodewald’s work added new vaccines and modernized the distribution of vaccines by publicly-funded programs, protecting a greater number of children against life-threatening diseases.
Homeland Security
ARTHUR M. FRIEDLANDER
U.S. Army
Senior Scientist, Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases
Ft. Detrick, Md.
Friedlander steered the development of anthrax and plague vaccines now in clinical testing. He also made recommendations for responding to a bioterrorist attack.
KELLY MENZIE-DEGRAFF & TEAM
Corporation for National and Community Services
Director, Disaster Services
Washington, D.C.
The team directed 300 AmeriCorps members and 60,000 other volunteers to help in the aftermath of the tornado in Joplin, Mo., in May 2011.
NAEL SAMHA & THOMAS ROLAND, JR.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Program Manager of the Office of Technology (samha) and Program Manager of the Office of Field Operations (Roland)
Alexandria, Va.
Samha and Roland created a smartphone application for agents to access law enforcement databases in real-time.
DANIEL STONEKING
FEMA
Director, Private Sector, Office of External Affairs
Washington, D.C.
Stoneking creates private-public partnerships for planning and responding to natural disasters.
Justice & Law Enforcement
SHAUNA HENLINE
IRS
Senior Technical Coordinator, Frivolous Return Program
Ogden, Utah
Henline has led the government effort to bring to justice tax evaders and promoters of fraudulent tax filing schemes.
MICHAEL HERTZ
Justice Department
Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division
Washington, D.C.
Hertz has recovered billions of dollars from people who have committed fraud against the government under the False Claims Act. Hertz died May 4.
KELLY MALTAGLIATI
National Archives and Records Administration
Special Agent-in-Charge, Archival Recovery Team, Office of Inspector General
Washington, D.C.
Maltagliati leads the recovery of thousands of U.S. historical documents stolen from the National Archives.
LOUIS MILIONE & DEA TEAM
Drug Enforcement Administration
Special Agent and Group Supervisor
Washington, D.C.
An undercover investigation divning three continents led to the arrest and conviction of the “Merchant of Death,” the world’s most notorious arms trafficker.
Management Excellence
ELLIOTT B. BRANCH
Navy
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Acquisition and Procurement
Washington, D.C.
Branch’s work ensures warfighters have the right equipment, at the best possible value for the U.S. taxpayer.
DANETTE CAMPBELL
Patent and Trade Office
Senior Telework Advisor
Washington, D.C.
PTO’s telework program has boosted employee productivity and job satisfaction, as well as cut agency costs.
ARLEAS UPTON KEA
FDIC
Director, Division of Administration
Washington, D.C.
Kea oversaw the doubling of the agency’s workforce to respond to the national financial crisis.
ALICE MUELLERWEISS
Veterans Affairs
Dean, VA Learning University
Washington, D.C.
Muellerweiss established a new approach to training and career development.
JOSEPH KENNEDY, RAY DECKER & HAKEEM BASHEERUD-DEEN
Office of Personnel Management
Deputy Associate Director (Kennedy), Assistant Director (Decker), Deputy Assistant Director (Basheerud-Deen)
Washington, D.C.
The team led efforts to increase the number of veterans hired by federal agencies.
National Security & International Affairs
MICHELLE BERNIER-TOTH
State Department
Managing Director, Overseas Citizens Services, Bureau of Consular Affairs
Washington, D.C.
Bernier-Toth leads the efforts to prepare U.S. embassy staff in case of uprisings, wars and natural disasters.
RICHARD BOLY
State Department
Director, Office of eDiplomacy
Washington, D.C.
Boly created social media networks for State employees around the world to enhance collaboration and connect with outside audiences.
JOYCE CONNERY
National Security Council
Former Director, National Energy Policy
Washington, D.C.
Connery helped organize an international summit that reduced and secured plutonium and highly enriched uranium.
CHARLES SCOVILLE
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center
Chief, Amputee Patient Care Services
Bethesda, Md.
Scoville oversees a rehabilitation program that enables combat amputees to lead active lives and possibly return to duty.
Science & Environment
MYRON “RON” DIFTLER & ROBONAUT2 TEAM
NASA
Robonaut Project Lead, Robotics Systems Technology Branch
Houston, Texas
The team developed the first humanoid robot sent to space. The robot has a human-like hand that can take over simple, repetitive or dangerous tasks now performed by astronauts.
BARBARA LINDER
National Institutes of Health
Senior Advisor, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Bethesda, Md.
Linder developed ways to prevent and treat type 2 diabetes in children, particularly among minority and disadvantaged children who are at the greatest risk for the disease.
KYLE MYERS
FDA
Director, Division of Imaging and Applied Mathematics, Office of Science and Engineering Laboratories, Center for Devices and Radiological Health
Silver Spring, Md.
Myers sets the standards for images produced by medical imaging devices.
NEAL YOUNG
National Institutes of Health
Chief of the Hematology Branch, National Health, Lung and Blood Institute
Bethesda, Md.
Young researches and developments treatments for bone marrow failure diseases, including a rare and once deadly disorder called aplastic anemia.
See the list of 2011 Sammies Award finalists.
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