NIH Receives 15 HHS Green Champion Awards
Photo: Steve McCaw/NIEHS
NIH received 15 Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Green Champion Awards for fiscal year 2023.
Through the 17th annual Green Champion Awards, HHS honors individual federal employees and Native American tribal members, small groups, and projects or programs that demonstrate measurable results towards integrating sustainability principles into the HHS mission and its daily operations.
The awards are given to employees who take on the challenge of reducing energy use, saving natural resources and minimizing the carbon footprint of the federal government.
Winners were celebrated at a virtual ceremony earlier this summer.
The Green Champions from NIH are:
Sustainability Innovator
Individual
Patrick Shirdon, the National Institute on Aging’s Director for Management, for facilitating “the effective communication of the requirements of Executive Orders 14008 and 14075 and the HHS Climate Adaptation Plan by supporting the development and delivery of multi-media informational resources tailored to specific NIH workforce audiences.”
Small Group
Helen Cawley, Jessica Hale, Helena Celia Cerda-Kun, Minoo Shakoury and Kerri Hartung of the NIH Freezer Challenge Steering Committee for voluntarily working “to promote sustainability while still carrying out their official duties within their institutes. As a team, they collaborated to increase the NIH involvement in the national and global effort to reduce energy use and respective emissions from laboratory freezers.”
Kerri Hartung, Paul Johnson, Bill Steinmetz, Cheryl Thompson, David Christie, Stephanie Bishop, Lisa Padilla-Banks, Andrea Kaminski, Lt. Cdr. Justin Bunn and Paul Windsor of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Recycling Program Innovation for assisting “institute personnel to correctly recycle in the workplace.” The team “took an innovative, multi-faceted approach that combined updated digital resources and physical signage, in-person engagement, on-line interactive quizzes, and development of an online interactive recycling database for laboratories.”
Project/Program
The 2023 NIH Green Labs Program for helping labs “learn about myriad environmental programs that are either mandated by federal, state, or local law or internal NIH or HHS policies and best management practices to reduce environmental impacts from lab activities.”
Building Sustainable Supply Chains
NIH Sustainable Laboratory Supply Chain Strategy for expanding “the use of sustainable products and services while also reducing costs and emissions through the effective management of a common laboratory supply stock room.”
Environmental Stewardship
Small Group
David Mohammadi, Matt Deptola, Ty Adkins, Mike Stefan of the NIH Division of Environmental Protection for developing “a comprehensive Chemical Waste Compliance poster.”
Willie Davis, Christopher J. Batzel, Sr., Javier Arce-Colon, Kimarlo Burke, Michael Turner of the NIH Division of Logistics Services’ Property Management Branch, Property Reutilization and Disposal Section for engaging with ICs to collect, manage, and redistribute excess property.”
Paul Poliachik, Brian Harris, William Ragland, Ben Hocutt, Paul Johnson of NIEHS for developing a solution to transport soiled animal bedding to a power plant where the bedding would be used to produce electricity. 30-yard dumpsters with augers were obtained to condense the bedding to reduce trips to the collection site.
Norman Hall, Dina Pokuaa, Tofic Rahmeto, Randy Caudle, Belinda Avila, Katina Elie, Georgine Hunter, Christopher Doleman, Wondwesen Gebrecrstos, Netsanet Fita of the Clinical Center’s Nursing Department’s Sterile Processing Section for significantly reducing “the environmental impact of sterilization packaging for surgical devices in the operating room.”
Advancing Climate Adaptation and Resilience
Small group
Joseph Cox, Anna Centeno, Steve Friedman, Jaroslav Sebek for hosting Bike to Work Day. National BTWD recognized NIH as the largest participant of the 100-plus pit stops for the D.C., Maryland, and Virginia region.
Bill Steinmetz, Kerri Hartung, Paul Johnson, Julie Johnson, Rachel Faison of NIEHS for implementing a “Refrigerant Management Plan”
Electrifying and Optimizing the Federal Fleet
Individual
Lt. Brian Sims, Fleet Manager for the NIH Police Department, for “researching the most cost-effective and beneficial way to begin replacing the NIH Police gas vehicles with hybrid and plug-in electric police vehicles.”
Decarbonizing Federal Buildings
Small group
Ellen M Rolfes, Emily E. Neveux, Jon W Garvey, Patricia Ann Messick, Bryan James Wedel, Andre Nicholas Hogan, Danielle Denise Buice, Catherine L Brooks, Brandy L Robinson, Aimee Louise Mooney of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) for developing “the NHGRI 2023 Freezer Replacement Program to Decarbonize NHGRI Labs.”
Alison Karver, Cameron Thompson and James Stancil of NIEHS Office of Research Facilities for completing “the replacement and refurbishment of the Bldg. 101 Module D Roof, covering an area of approximately 16,000 square feet.
Michael Shaw, Jr, Vanessa Argote Macia and John Louis Fratangelo of the NIH Central Utility Plant for “achieving cost savings through improved steam condensate return.”
A full list of winners and award summaries can be found at https://intranet.hhs.gov/about-hhs/annual-initiatives/go-green/green-champions.