PNNL scientist just keeps on giving

Aaron Diaz, a staff scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, has received two distinct honors for his work in homeland security.

Aaron Diaz demonstrates the Acoustic Inspection Device, a technology that provides a noninvasive evaluation of sealed containers. Diaz is the first PNNL staff member to win a Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award. Diaz is being recognized for both his technical accomplishments as well as his extensive contributions in the Hispanic community. He joins other 2004 winners from IBM, Hewlett Packard and Argonne National Laboratory.

The second award is the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation's Homeland Security Award. Diaz was recognized in the field of border/transportation security for his scientific research and engineering work in developing an acoustic inspection device for PNNL that allows noninvasive evaluation of sealed containers such as steel drums and shipping containers. This technology won an R&D 100 Award and a Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Technology Transfer in 2003.

Diaz has been a guest speaker at scientific conferences, high schools, night schools and student conferences. He also makes regular visits to his hometown of Toppenish, Wash., where he encourages high school students to pursue studies in science. "I like taking live science to the kids," Diaz said. "I try to convey that this can be a rewarding career. It is especially rewarding to see a kid who remembers me coming to his school."