As part of Public Service Recognition Week, the Trump administration May 6 announced eight individuals or teams within the federal government that had demonstrated exceptional work on behalf of the American people as recipients of the annual Gears of Government Awards.
“Whether they are defending the homeland, inspecting our food, making scientific discoveries or managing cyber risks, federal employees underpin all the operations of our government and touch nearly every aspect of our lives,” said the Office of Management and Budget’s Deputy Director for Management Margaret Weichert in a news release.
A total of 24 employees across seven agencies were recognized for 2019:
- Kathleen Uhl from the Department of Health and Human Services — Uhl transformed generic drug regulation to expand access to those drugs for more Americans.
- Kerry Kolodziej, Kara Fischer, Stephen Hench, Lucia Sanchez and Nicholas LaBruna from the Department of Transportation — The Takata Recall Team developed a communication toolbox and less burdensome method for conducting air bag recalls, leading to the replacement of over 7.2 million defective parts.
- Kenneth Kraft, Dustin Litwiler, Jess Weisz, Cassandra Newsome and Roman Kulbashny from the HHS Office of Inspector General — This team prevented healthcare providers convicted of opioid-related offenses, sexual assault, rape and manslaughter from participating in federal healthcare programs.
- Timothy Davis, Stephanie Moore and Gregory Doucette from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — This team “radically” advanced the detection of harmful algal bloom toxins to ensure safe drinking water in Lake Erie and safe seafood across Washington State.
- Angela Chambers, Lee Mason, William Pulse and Marc Gibson from the Department of Energy and NASA — This team demonstrated technology whose power generation could enable long term stays on other planets.
- Barbara Morton from the Department of Veterans Affairs — Morton used real-time data and tools with strategic partnerships between communities, veterans and families to create an “excellent” customer experience at the agency.
- Emily Haas from HHS’s Centers for Disease Control — Haas’s research inspired the improvement of nationwide health and safety standards for mine workers.
- Roger Cryan, Marc McFetridge, Michael Sheats and Robert Wintersteen from the Department of Agriculture — This team developed an approach to provide food banks with more fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy and meat while supporting distressed agricultural industries.
According to Weichert, who spoke about the awards on a press call, the awards aimed to recognize not just scientific or technological breakthroughs, but also those efforts that improved the operations of government.
“We wanted explicitly to call out not only folks who have moved forward the mission of each of their agencies, but also those who have showcased how, in support capabilities, we can improve the lives of Americans by improving customer service and also by being dedicated to stewardship of taxpayer resources,” said Weichert.
“Places like NASA and elsewhere tend to have a lot of very high-profile projects. But we also wanted to say, when we really look at where our feds are making a difference, in a lot of cases it’s not as well known. And we wanted to give an opportunity for those to shine.”
Half of the awards went to teams or individuals working outside of the nation’s capital, and Weichert said that geographical spread was by design:
“It is not lost on us that very often when we celebrate employees, we tend to have somewhat of a capital, district-centric view. Obviously, there are a lot of employees here in the D.C. area, and they get a lot of attention, because they may be closer to leadership. But we wanted explicitly to make sure that we looked at employees from all of the regions that we serve.”
Jessie Bur covers federal IT and management.
