Dr. Joel Ullom, 2012 CSA Roger W. Boom awardee, is the NIST Project Leader for superconducting calorimeter development and has worked in the fields of low temperature sensors, low temperature electronics and cryogenic systems since 1994.
Ullom has a BA in physics from Princeton, and MA and PhD degrees from Harvard. He has been a driving force behind the development and dissemination of analytical instruments based on superconducting transition-edge calorimeters. His work has led to the deployment of six transition-edge sensor-based instruments at collaborating institutions. He has developed X-ray, gamma-ray and alpha-particle transition-edge calorimeters with world-record performance. He led the first demonstration of high-resolution transition-edge calorimeter multiplexing and is an author on each of the papers reporting first demonstrations of calorimeter readout using frequency-, time and code-domain multiplexing.
In related work, he led the development of practical low temperature refrigerators based on superconducting tunnel junctions. His work on tunnel junction refrigerators was featured on the cover of Physics Today and twice on the cover of Applied Physics Letters. His work on gamma-ray sensors was described in Scientific American and was highlighted in President Obama’s 2009 Budget Request as one of the $300 million DOE Nonproliferation and Verification R&D program’s top six accomplishments for that year.
Ullom has also worked successfully with industry to transfer and commercialize his advances in cryogenic systems and microcalorimeter spectrometers. He has over 100 refereed scientific publications. Ullom received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2004 and a Department of Commerce Silver Medal in 2005.
Ullom’s Boom award citation reads “The Roger W. Boom Award is given to Dr. Joel Ullom for his exceptional contributions in applied superconductivity and cryogenic engineering. These contributions include the demonstration of on-chip quantum refrigerators, the development of new superconducting x-ray and gamma-ray spectrometers that provide new capabilities both for industrial materials analysis and nuclear materials accounting, and the development and commercialization of an important cryogenic system.” The award comes with a $1000 honorarium and a plaque with an image of Roger W. Boom.
The award was presented by Boom Award committee member Professor K. Ted Hartwig, Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, who was a student through his postdoc with Boom. Hartwig commented, “Boom is a modest gentleman with strong convictions who has influenced dozens of young scientists and engineers to pursue careers in cryogenic engineering and applied superconductivity, many of whom have flourished in the field.”
This year’s ceremony was honored by the presence of Ms. Jennifer Mannino of Portland, Oregon, grandniece of Boom. The Boom family trust funds the award.
