Awards

NIST PSCR is proud to receive recognition through the Department of Commerce's honor awards in the form of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals. The Gold and Silver Medals are the highest and second highest honor granted by the Secretary for distinguished and exceptional performance. The Bronze Medal is granted by the head of an operating unit or Secretarial Officer for superior performance. We our proud of our staff that drive innovation in cross-cutting research and leadership in public safety communications.

PSCR has received the following Department of Commerce honors:

• U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal Award (2023) - Developing and executing a $300 million R&D program to enable the advancement of public safety communications technology - PSCR Organizational Representative: Dereck Orr

• U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal Award (2023) - Giving a vital voice to U.S. first responders' communication technology needs in law enforcement, firefighting, and emergency services - Scott Ledgerwood, Kristen Greene, Shanee Dawkins, Yee-Yin Choong, Mary Theofanos, Kerrianne Buchanan, Susanne Furman, Kevin Mangold

• U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Award (2023) - Successful advancement of mobile fingerprint capture technology in support of law enforcement field requirements - John Beltz, Gary Howarth, John Libert, Kenneth Ko, Bruce Bandini

• U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal Award (2022) - Developing and deploying a Public Safety Communications Lab Network that has enabled innovative research and influenced commercial products - John Beltz, Wyatt Suess, Don Harriss, Roger Blalock, Lisa Soucy, Scott Ledgerwood, Ellen Ryan, Jonathan Cook

• U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal Award (2018) - Innovative Leadership of Cost-Effective Facilities Construction Resulting in a State-of-the-Art Building for World-Leading Scientific Advances - Ellen Ryan, Roger Blalock, Brian Burnham, Ruben Rodriguez, Christine Carson

• U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal Award (2018) - Significantly Advancing Standards to Enable Mission-Critical Voice Over Broadband Networks for Public Safety Applications - Jason Kahn, Christopher Walton, Richard Rouil, Yishen Sun, David Cypher, Wesley Gary

• U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Scientific/Engineering Achievement (2016) - Designing and Executing a Highly Compressed Speech Intelligibility Testing - Stephen D. Voran and Andrew A. Catellier

• U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Scientific/Engineering Achievement (2015) - Developing an Efficient and Effective methodology for Determining Optimal Configurations and Designs for In-Building Communication Systems for Use by First Responders - Robert Johnk, Jaydee Griffith and Mitchell Powell

• U.S. Department of Commerce Silver Medal for Leadership (2011) - Successful Implementation of a Voluntary Project 25 Compliance Assessment Program that Increases Public Safety - Jeffrey Bratcher, Ronald Carey, John Ewan, Eric Nelson, Dereck Orr, Christopher Redding, Dr. Robert Stafford, Irena Stange, John Vanderau, and Andrew Thiessen

• U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal (2011) - Furthering President Obama's Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative Goal of Establishing a Single, Nationwide Public Safety Wireless Broadband Network - Jeffrey Bratcher, Andrew Thiessen

• U.S. Department of Commerce Bronze Medal for Scientific/Engineering Achievement (2010) - Public Safety Video Quality Initiative - Dr. Carolyn Ford

• U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Scientific/Engineering Achievement (2008) - Project 25 Inter-RF Subsystem Interface Test Tool Development - Kameron Behnam, Mudumbai Ranganathan, and Stephen Quirolgico

• U.S. Department of Commerce Gold Medal for Scientific/Engineering Achievement (2006) - Enhancement of Public Safety Communications - DJ Atkinson, Randy Bloomfield, Jeffrey Bratcher, Dereck Orr, Eldon Haakinson (retired), Eric Nelson, Val Pietrasiewicz, Andrew Thiessen, Ken Tilley, and Bruce Ward

PSCR has also been recognized with the following awards from NIST:

• Diversity, Inclusivity and Equal Employment Opportunity Award (2023) - Grassroots efforts to create a more inclusive environment for working parents by establishing NIST-wide policies and spaces for lactating mothers - Danni Leicht, Susan Cantilli, Kristen Gilbert, Ashley Beasley Green, Abigail Lindstrom, Diana Masselle, Diana Ortiz-Montalvo, Ileana Pazos, Jessica Staymates, Kelly Telu
• George A. Uriano Award (2021) - Outstanding Leadership Creating a Novel Open Innovation Program at NIST - Ellen Ryan, Terese Manley, Craig Connelly, Gary Howarth, Joanne Krumel, Jeremy Glenn, Sarah Hughes
• Director's Award for Excellence in Administration (2018) - Outstanding Administrative Leadership and Support of the Public Safety Communications Research Project - Danni Leicht
• NIST Safety Award (2018) - for the development and execution of rigorous safety protocols, training, and infrastructure to support the NIST Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Flight and Payload Challenge - Craig Connelly, Kamel Saidi, Andrew Thompson

In addition, PSCR has received several external awards including: 

• Flemming Award for Outstanding Federal Leadership (2022) - Outstanding leadership in developing and delivering public-private partnerships that drove the research and development of critical, life-saving communications capabilities for first responders, and involved a new generation in mission-driven public service - Ellen Ryan
• 2021 FedID Best Educational Effort Award (2021)  - Substantially contributed to the advancement of the federal government’s identity capabilities, practices, and education - John Beltz, William Fisher
• Most Innovative Campaign to Increase Security (2021) - Establishment of a nationwide research and development ecosystem devoted to public safety communications, uniting industry, academia, and public-sector resources to meet the needs of the U.S. public safety community - Dereck Orr
• Topcoder Innovation Award for Public Sector (2019) - Government has big problems to solve and the impact can be felt by tens of millions of people, if not more. This award recognized the very boldest team using open-talent in the federal government space. (Differential Privacy Project) - Terese Manley, Christine Task
• Leadership in Advocacy Award (2019) - Leaders who have made outstanding contributions to public safety communications - Dereck Orr
• 2015 National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Leadership Award (2015) - Exceptional Leadership and Devotion to the Public Safety Community - Dereck Orr