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Marla Dowell Receives 2009 Arthur S. Flemming Award

Arthur S. Flemming Award

The purpose of the Arthur S. Flemming Award is to recognize outstanding federal employees for unusually meritorious work. The awards were established in 1948 in honor of Arthur Flemming's commitment to public service throughout his distinguished career, which spanned seven decades and 11 presidencies. Recognized by the President of the United States, agency heads, and the private sector, the winners are selected from all areas of the federal service. The George Washington University and Government Executive magazine, in conjunction with the Arthur S. Flemming Awards Commission, present a total of twelve awards annually in three categories: Applied Science, Engineering and Mathematics, Basic Science, and Managerial or Legal Achievement.

More Information

Marla Dowell, Group Leader of the Sources and Detector Group, was recognized for her sustained exceptional leadership as a supervisory physicist of a world-leading laser metrology program. Dr. Dowell leads the most comprehensive program in laser metrology of any national measurement institute in the world. Her excellent people management skills and her outstanding breadth of technical expertise have transformed NIST's national measurement program in laser metrology and standards into an extremely effective, customer focused provider of world-leading measurement services. Dr. Dowell's team has accelerated development of a new class of test equipment, provided measurement traceability to the semiconductor manufacturing industry with best-in-the-world accuracy for ultraviolet laser instruments, and enabled high power laser calibrations for critical US defense programs with unique detector designs and coatings, among other accomplishments. Under her leadership her team's success has improved greatly in all areas. In addition, Dr. Dowell serves the technical and wider communities in improvement of laser safety, documentary standards, the work environment, as well as the education of a future generation of scientists and engineers.

Created October 24, 2011, Updated March 16, 2014
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