NIF & PS People - 2016
February
Tammy Ma Wins Presidential Early Career Award
NIF & Photon Science experimental physicist Tammy Ma has received a Presidential Early Career Award, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.
Tammy Ma The awards were announced by President Obama on Feb. 18. The winners will receive their awards at a Washington, DC, ceremony this spring.
“These early-career scientists are leading the way in our efforts to confront and understand challenges from climate change to our health and wellness,” President Obama said. “We congratulate these accomplished individuals and encourage them to continue to serve as an example of the incredible promise and ingenuity of the American people.”
Ma was cited for “innovation and leadership in quantifying hydrodynamic instability mix in the hot spot of Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) implosions on the National Ignition Facility; key contributions to experiments demonstrating fusion fuel gains exceeding unity; and broad educational outreach and service to the scientific community.” 
Tammy Ma describes the characteristics of lasers at the NIF&PS booth during the 2014 Tri-Valley Expanding Your Horizons Conference at Las Positas College. More than 300 girls in grades 6 to 9 attended the annual event, designed to increase interest and foster awareness of careers in math and science.
Ma was nominated for the award by the U.S. Department of Energy. U.S. government departments and agencies join together annually to nominate the most meritorious scientists and engineers whose early accomplishments show the greatest promise for assuring America’s preeminence in science and engineering and contributing to the awarding agencies’ missions.
“I am incredibly honored and humbled (and still in shock) to win this award,” Ma said. “I’m so grateful for all the amazing opportunities I’ve been given, and the wonderful people I get to work with. Thank you to everyone for your support and for allowing me to learn from you. It’s so awesome that I get to come to work every day with my heroes.”
Ma earned her BS degree in Aerospace Engineering from Caltech in 2005 and received her MS in 2008 and PhD in 2010, both from the University of California, San Diego.
Following graduate school, Ma completed a postdoc at LLNL before becoming a staff scientist in 2012, where she now supports many of the ICF experiments at NIF. Ma was responsible for developing an x-ray imaging diagnostic, the Ross Pair Filters, for NIF and she established a methodology for determining hydrodynamic mix and pressure in NIF implosions. She currently heads the X-Ray Analysis Group for the ICF program and coordinates the Summer Scholars program for the High Energy Density Physics program. Ma has authored or co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed journal publications.
Ma also is active the Laboratory’s community outreach programs, participating in school visits, the annual Expanding Your Horizons programs for girls in grades 6 to 9, and Science on Saturday presentations.
Click here for a profile.
Established by President Bill Clinton in 1996, the Presidential Early Career Awards are coordinated by the Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President. Awardees are selected for their pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and their commitment to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, or community outreach.
