The nominations for the 2002 NPSS Society Awards have been received and evaluated. Final selections have been made by the Committee after a thorough deliberation process. I would like to thank all of the nominators. This year we had an outstanding group of nominees.

The Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society gives three different categories of awards each year. Some awards are given by the Society and others are given by the Technical Committees. In addition to Society and Technical Committee Awards, NPSS Sponsored Conferences that have Short Courses give Paul Phelps Continuing Education Grants. These grants are intended either for tuition in NPSS Sponsored Short Courses, or for partial or total travel expenses to attend NPSS Short Courses. These grants are available for outstanding Student Members of NPSS and unemployed members of NPSS who need assistance in changing career directions. Completed Nomination Forms for the Paul Phelps Continuing Education Grants should be sent to the General Chair of the appropriate Conference. This year the Phelps Awards are being processed by those NPSS Conferences that have Short Courses. The Conference Chair is responsible for advertising the Phelps Award, soliciting candidates and selecting Awardees.

The recipients of the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society Awards for 2002 are:

Jan S. Iwanczyk of Photon Imaging, Inc. received the NPSS Merit Award “For outstanding contributions to development of compound semiconductor and silicon detectors, and imaging systems, and their applications in physics experiments, medicine and other fields of use.”

Peter N. Clout of Vista Control Systems, Inc. received the Richard F. Shea Award “For successful and innovative entrepreneurship in data acquisition and control, and for his long-time dedication to and effective leadership of the  IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society.”

Simon J. Cooke, of Science Applications International Corporation received the Early Achievement Award “For contributions to numerical modeling of vacuum electron devices and RF components through the development of advanced algorithms for three-dimensional electromagnetic simulation.”

Mu Chen of Duke University, Zhiyu Chen of the University of Tennessee, and James A. Felix of Vanderbilt University received NPSS Graduate Scholarship Awards.

On behalf of the Society, I take this opportunity to recognize their outstanding accomplishments and congratulate them wholeheartedly. More detailed biographical sketches of the 2002 NPSS Awardees will appear in the next NPSS Newsletter.

Information about the NPSS awards and grants can be found in the IEEE/TAB Award Manual, which can be downloaded in PDF format by going to http://www.ieee.org/tab/societyhome.html and clicking on “TAB Awards and Recognition Manual”. This TAB Manual includes descriptions of the NPSS Awards as well as descriptions of the Awards of other IEEE Societies.

Ronald Jaszczak, Chair of the NPSS Awards Committee, can be reached at Duke University Medical Center, Department of Radiology, DUMC-3949, Durham, NC 27710; Phone: +1 919 684-7685; Fax: +1 919 684-7122; E-mail: rjj@dec3.mc.duke.edu