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“HONORING DR. CHARLES V. SHANK” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1471-E1472 on Oct. 9, 2015.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
HONORING DR. CHARLES V. SHANK
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HON. BARBARA LEE
of california
in the house of representatives
Friday, October 9, 2015
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary life of Dr. Charles V. Shank. Known by many for his seminal development of ultrafast lasers and his visionary leadership as Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 1989 through 2004, Dr. Shank made the Advanced Light Source a world-leading center for soft X-ray science. As a recipient of the U.S. Department of Energy's Enrico Fermi Award on October 20, 2015--presented to outstanding scientists for distinguished achievement--we honor Dr. Shank's life work and lasting legacy.
Graduating summa cum laude in 1965 from UC Berkeley, Dr. Shank went on to receive an M.S. and PhD in Electrical Engineering. These early academic achievements were the catalyst for a distinguished twenty year career at AT&T Bell Laboratories, where Dr. Shank made his mark as a pioneer in femtosecond laser spectroscopy and the study of ultrafast events.
In 1989, following his meteoric rise at AT&T, Dr. Shank was appointed Director of Berkeley Lab. Here, Dr. Shank would more than double the annual budget and grow the Lab's workforce to nearly 4,000 personnel. Under his watch the stage was set to attract the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) and the creation of the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) to settle at Berkeley. Not long after, he championed the Supernova Cosmology Project, which led to the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of ``dark energy'', a phenomenon partly responsible for the expansion of the universe.
These extraordinary advancements brought further discoveries, including the top quark and neutrino mass, the Time Projection Chamber for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, the front-end system for the Spallation Neutron Source, and the reclamation of valuable land occupied by the long-defunct Bevatron.
Today, California's 13th Congressional District salutes the life and work of an outstanding individual and pioneer, Dr. Charles V. Shank. His contributions have truly impacted the Berkeley community, the field of energy and applied science, as well as the lives of his family, friends, and patrons. I join all of Dr. Shank's loved ones in celebrating his incredible accomplishments and offer my highest gratitude for the distinction he has brought upon the 13th Congressional District.
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