Professional awards to RTI staff in 1999 show that the Institute's reputation is strong and thriving. RTI researchers produced numerous professional reports, publications, and presentations, and several received peer recognition awards at professional meetings. RTI staff also won awards for project work from clients and professional organizations.

Five RTI staff members earned peer recognition awards at professional meetings. The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists presented research chemists James O'Rourke and Peter Grohse with an outstanding paper award at its 1999 Southeastern Regional meeting. Research statistician Li-Tzy Wu, Ph.D., received the Dr. Morton Kramer Fund Award for the Application of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in Research on the Prevention and Control of Mental Disorder.

Reproductive and infectious disease epidemiologist David Hubacher, Ph.D., won the Ortho Prize for Best Scientific Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. Kara Morgan, Ph.D., received the 1999 Student Paper Award at the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science Meeting.

In 1999, the American Chemical Society announced that R.K.M. Jayanty, Ph.D., would receive its year 2000 award for applied research on environmental chemistry. The ACS offers awards in several fields of chemistry, and they are considered to be among the world's most significant honors for applied chemistry. Dr. Jayanty became the second RTI person so honored, following Monroe E. Wall, Ph.D., who earned the ACS award for medicinal chemistry in 1998.

Environmental scientist Deborah Franke is a member of an EPA team that received a 1999 Hammer Award from Vice President Al Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government. In 1998 two RTI staff members—David Ensor and Jack Farmer—were honored with Hammer Awards for their work on EPA's Environmental Technology Verification Program.

Cliff Haac, Jack Pless, and Russ Vandermass-Peeler won a regional Silver Reel Award from the International Television and Video Association for training videos produced for the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse.

RTI's Malcolm Burgess received NASA's "Turning Goals Into Reality" award for his contributions as part of NASA-Langley's Advanced General Aviation Transportation Experiments Team.

In addition, three RTI researchers— George Switzer, Les Britt, and Chi Nguyen—were part of a team that earned a NASA Group Achievement Award. Other members of the team included scientists and engineers from NASA, eight companies, and two universities.