Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) manager, Dr. Steve Xiao has been named the 2020 recipient of the Donald Orth Lifetime Achievement Award for being a leader and expert on hydrogen isotope separation technologies.

The Orth Award is the highest honor given by the laboratory for technical excellence and leadership. Established in 1993, the award was named for the late Dr. Donald Orth, who retired from SRNL in 1992 after a distinguished 41-year career. The award was established to honor an individual “who by character and leadership best exemplifies Dr. Orth’s character and contributions.”

Dr. Xiao is widely recognized at SRNL, Savannah River Tritium Enterprise, the Department of Energy Community and the tritium community as an expert on hydrogen isotope separation technology, in which SRNL is the world leader with Thermal Cycling Absorption Process. He combines a strong educational background in chemistry, engineering, and physics with unmatched experience from solving complex challenges with efficient solutions.

“Steve is a technology pioneer and has frequently shown his prowess for identifying an out-of-the-box solution to projects studied by many others,” Dr. Vahid Majidi, Laboratory Director shared. “This award is in clear recognition of Dr. Steve Xiao’s hard work and commitment of to SRNL, SRS (Savannah River Site) and the nation.”

Dr. Xiao is recognized for his commitment to teambuilding and has coached and mentored more than 10 employees at SRNL. Through his process development work, he has equipped a world-class measurement facility. With over 60 patents and patent applications, Dr. Xiao continues to excel as one of the Lab’s leaders in innovation, a core mission as SRNL.

“I am extremely honored to receive this recognition,” Dr. Xiao said. “I hope my receipt of this award inspires young scientists, engineers and researchers to work hard, knowing they, too, can achieve this type of honor and recognition during their career.”