U.S. Office of Personnel Management

2003 Distinguished Executive Awards

Department of Energy

James F. Decker
Department of Energy
Office of Science

Dr. James F. Decker, Principal Deputy, is recognized for his sustained exemplary leadership in the direction of technical and management activities of the Office of Science, an organization that is the largest Federal sponsor of research in the physical sciences and is responsible for the construction and operation of the world’s premier suite of large scientific user facilities. Under his leadership, the Office of Science pioneered the use of supercomputers and broadband networks for civilian research, literally changing the way that science is conducted. Dr. Decker also played a pivotal role in managing the on-time and on-budget construction of scientific facilities essential to progress in both the life and physical sciences ranging in cost from $100 million to nearly $1 billion. He has been a leader in using international cooperation to leverage U.S. resources in the design and construction of large scientific facilities such as the Large Hadron Collider and ITER, and was instrumental in the transformation of the Global Science Forum into an organization that has fostered international collaborations resulting in millions of dollars of savings to U.S. technical agencies.

Patricia M. Dehmer
Department of Energy
Office of Science

Dr. Patricia M. Dehmer is recognized for her sustained exemplary leadership in building and managing the Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Science, which is uniquely responsible for supporting fundamental research in physics, chemistry, materials sciences, biosciences, and geosciences to help improve energy production and use. The Office currently funds research in more than 150 academic institutions located in 48 states and in 13 Department of Energy laboratories located in nine states. Also supported or under construction are nearly two dozen world-class scientific user facilities, visited by more than 8,000 users each year. These facilities provide outstanding capabilities for imaging and characterizing materials of all kinds from metals, alloys, and ceramics to fragile biological samples. The synchrotron radiation light sources, the neutron scattering facilities, and the electron beam characterization centers represent the largest and best collection of such facilities supported by a single organization in the world. Dr. Dehmer has been a leader in establishing visions for both the basic research activities and the scientific user facilities.


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