Kristin Block and Bertha Orosco were recipients of this year's LPL Staff Excellence Award. 

Kristin Block was awarded in the Science and Engineering category for her skills and expertise in systems engineering and project management, as well as contributions to productivity and communications initiatives, which are indispensable to the success of HiRISE. As Principal Science Operations Engineer for HiRISE, Kristin leads development of non-standard special HiRISE imaging and engineering sequences. She was recognized for a long career of outstanding contributions (she has been personally responsible for over 10,000 images of Mars!) and leadership, but this year’s nominations cite two particular efforts that are in addition to her regular duties as a targeting specialist.

During the COVID pandemic, Kristin led a group that implemented a new way of testing HiRISE camera settings that bypasses the original process, which required a long review and approval period. With this new process, HiRISE can test camera settings more than ten times faster without getting special instructions or approval, and the team has discovered combinations that will extend HiRISE lifespan by years. In addition to this extraordinary work, Kristin led a team to organize and acquire HiRISE most famous image of 2021—the landing of the Perseverance Rover on Mars. Capturing that moment was incredibly technically difficult and also complicated by the threat of potential communications failures. Thanks to Kristin’s coordination and leadership, mistakes were avoided and the descent was capture by the HiRISE camera. These descent images not only capture the public imagination but provide crucial data that makes it possible to reconstruct the craft's landing sequence and diagnose problems. 

Administrative Associate Bertha Orosco won the LPL Staff Excellence Award in the Administrative Category. Bertha, or Bert as she is known to the department, has been with LPL since 2010 and previously won this award in 2014. In addition to the more traditional administrative work like travel and procurement, Bert’s responsibilities include a wide-ranging variety of tasks, including keeping key elements of the LPL web site updated. Keeping up with all the transitions and updates at LPL is a challenge that Bert navigates exceptionally well. Bert’s achievements on the job are reflected in the increased variety and technical nature of her responsibilities and her willingness to expand her abilities, meet new challenges, and incorporate new tools to better serve the department and all those who contact her throughout any given busy day.

Bert’s work on behalf of LPL during the COVID pandemic is an example of her contributions toward both service and efficiency. Throughout the COVID shutdown, Bert volunteered for in-person duties so the department could function and move ahead with the safety of all in mind. When in-person classes resumed, Bert was in the office and the classrooms to ensure instructors and students had what they needed to accommodate sometimes complicated hybrid classroom and teaching models. She spent many hours over the summer of 2021 in Kuiper classrooms testing a variety of Zoom and audiovisual combinations and documenting procedures. Bert is regularly confronted with special requests and problems. She rises to each challenge with creativity, technical ability, and good humor. She is regularly in the office after 5:00p.m. to ensure that all reservations are approved, announcements are posted, and special events are accommodated, and she is always gracious when her lunch break is interrupted with a request for supplies or technical assistance in a classroom. Given all that she accomplishes in a day, Bert’s most important contribution is perhaps the community she helps to create and maintain even during the most challenging of times.

Also recognized at this year's LPL Awards and Recognition Reception was Administrative Assistant Savannah Salazar-White. Savannah began working with LPL in 2015 as a student. In 2018, she was hired as an Administrative Assistant and began expanding her responsibilities; her supervisor came to rely upon her to assist with training new staff. Savannah's reliability, efficiency, and problem-solving was extremely valuable during the COVID shutdown and her colleagues are thankful for her dedication throughout that period and her continued excellent administrative support.