Berkeley Lab won four of R&D Magazine’s R&D 100 Awards for 2009, which recognize the 100 most significant proven technological advances of the year. This year’s winners offer the promise of cost-competitive solar cells, more computer memory at less cost, an unmatched look at atomic scale matter in 3-D, and a more powerful way to find hidden energy sources.

Berkeley Lab scientists Cecilia Aragon, Jeff Neaton and Sanjay Kumar were among the 100 researchers named by President Barack Obama to receive the prestigious Presidential Early Career for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) Award, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on early-career researchers.

Berkeley Lab’s Jay Keasling has been selected by the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) to receive its first annual Biotech Humanitarian Award. Keasling was recognized for his use of synthetic biology techniques to develop a simple and much less expensive means of making artemisinin, today’s most powerful anti-malaria drug.