The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies is pleased to announce that Jeffrey Wadsworth, PhD, President and CEO of Battelle Memorial Institute, will be a Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Navigator Award winner for 2010.  Dr. Wadsworth and fellow awardees will be honored at a banquet at the Willard Hotel, Washington, DC, on October 21. 

Dr. Wadsworth has been President and CEO of Battelle Memorial Institute since January 2009. Battelle is the world’s largest nonprofit research and development organization, executing about $6B of work annually and employing about 21,000 people. Formed in 1925 as a charitable trust and headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle counts among its successes the development of the Xerox machine, pioneering work on the compact disc, and a number of innovations in medical technology, telecommunications, environmental waste treatment, homeland security, and transportation.

Battelle has spun off new ventures and companies in fiber optics, pharmaceuticals, energy, electronics, and informatics. Its principal businesses today are fee-for-service contract research, laboratory operations, and commercial ventures, executing more than 5,000 projects for some 1,500 industrial and government clients throughout the world.

Dr. Wadsworth formerly led Battelle’s Global Laboratory Operations business, where he oversaw the management or co-management of six national laboratories of the U.S. Department of Energy, representing more than $3B in annual business (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), and the Department of Homeland Security’s National Biodefense Analysis and Counter¬measures Center. He also led the development of partnerships with the private sector in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and the expansion of Battelle’s operations into Japan, Korea, and India. In March 2009, a consortium including Battelle was awarded a contract to manage the National Nuclear Laboratory of the United Kingdom’s Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Dr. Wadsworth was educated at Sheffield University in England, where he studied metallurgy, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1972 and a Ph.D. in 1975. He was awarded a Doctor of Metallurgy degree in 1991 for his published work and received the highest recognition conferred by the university, an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree, in July 2004.

Dr. Wadsworth came to the United States in 1976 and has worked at Stanford University, Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. In 2002, he joined Battelle and served as a member of the White House Transition Planning Office for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. From 2003 to June 2007, he was director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Department of Energy’s largest multipurpose science laboratory.

Dr. Wadsworth has authored or co-authored nearly 300 scientific papers and one book, and he has been granted four US patents. His many honors and awards include five honorary doctorates, two honorary professorships from Chinese universities, and election to the rank of Fellow of three technical societies. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2005.

The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies' Navigator Awards are presented to members of Congress and to representatives of the executive branch, industry and academia in recognition of their distinguished contributions in the arena of science and technology. The Navigator Award is named as a tribute to those leaders in science and technology who act as pathfinders in the pursuit of knowledge.  Past recipients include:  Dr. Rita Colwell, Dr. Charles Herzfeld, VADM Paul Gaffney, Dr. Tony Tether, Dr. John Marburger, Dr. John Young, Senator Pat Roberts, Senator Joseph Lieberman, Senator Jeff Bingaman, Congressman Pete Hoekstra, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, Congressman Tom Davis, Congressman Sherwood Boehlert, General Al Gray, In-Q-Tel CEO Mr. Gilman Louie, Scientific American Editor-in-Chief Mr. John Rennie, and other distinguished thought leaders.