ASTM International’s nuclear technology and applications committee (E10) has honored Mary Helen Sparks, consultant with Flanders & Sparks Consulting (Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA), with the Peter D. Hedgecock Award. 

Sparks was recognized for sustained and exceptional contributions to the development and use of consensus standards in the field of nuclear technology and its dosimetry applications within the international community. 

An ASTM International member since 1991, Sparks has previously been honored with the Award of Appreciation (2000, 2006, 2010, 2012, 2015, and 2019) and the Award of Excellence (2015). 

Sparks worked for 35 years as a research nuclear chemist for the Nuclear Effects Lab at the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR). Sparks joined the Nuclear Effects Laboratory in 1985, where she shepherded a series of inter-laboratory dosimetry comparisons through 2004. 

Sparks primary focus at WSMR has been on the use of discrete ordinates and Monte Carlo methods in solving reactor physics and neutron shielding problems. She also completed extensive experimental work comparing the theory and experimental data acquired from radiation-producing facilities at WSMR for more than 30 years. 

Sparks also held a graduate research position in the nuclear chemistry department at the University of Arkansas, where she holds a double bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and English. 

Media Inquiries: Dan Bergels, tel +1.610.832.9602; dbergels@astm.org 

Release #11018

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