Laboratory Director's Award
2009 Fitzner-Eberhardt Award Winners, Novella Bridges & Bill Pike
Novella Bridges
Novella Bridges
Novella is a scientist in the National Security Directorate. During her career at the Laboratory, she has been a strong participant in education programs both at PNNL and in the community.
Novella is currently the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science (GEM) Fellowship and Consortium ambassador to PNNL. The GEM consortium is an organization that targets underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—known as STEM—fields to attend graduate school and obtain graduate degrees by partnering with major corporations to sponsor the students. She also has participated and mentored more than 10 students for the Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) and Mickey Leland Fellowship programs.
Novella is "an extraordinary asset to outreach programs in the community." She participates on the planning committee for the new STEM high school, Delta. She also spearheads a science and math program for Middle School and High School young ladies. She regularly gives science demonstrations and talks to young students at events such as Expanding your Horizons in Richland, Sunnyside, and Yakima.
Bill Pike
Bill Pike
Bill is a scientist in the National Security Directorate. He has proven to be a champion for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education during his time at PNNL.
"Many things make Bill an excellent mentor. He was always available to discuss challenges, rather than giving direct answers, forcing me to advance my analytical skills." Over the past three years, Bill has mentored four interns at PNNL. In July of 2008, Bill participated as a researcher and developer at a two-week long National Visualization Analytics Summer camp for 17 students and he participated on a panel discussion for the High School Science Symposium for students in the Student Research Apprenticeship Program (SRAP) and Young Women in Science (YWiS) intern programs.
Bill also has volunteered to serve as a judge for multiple local school science fair activities. Largely on donated time, Bill led the design and execution of a fellowship program in high-performance computing and computer security for six undergraduate students and a faculty advisor from two Ohio colleges. This program has successfully helped the students identify long term academic and career goals.