Feds At Work

Most people take for granted the ability to blow up type on a computer so it’s easier to read. Or they don’t really notice the ubiquity of street corners with ramped sidewalks. Or that some fixtures in restrooms are set lower than the others.

Yet none of these accessibility aids for people with handicaps just happened. They represent decades of work not only to establish legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, but to make sure organizations comply and people with disabilities really do have access to what they need to live and move about independently and work productively.
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This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Justice and law Enforcement medal Michael Hertz, who until his death in May was deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Division of the Department of Justice.

To many in the legal community, Michael Hertz was known as “Mr. False Claims Act” for his leading role during the past quarter century in using this important federal law to combat fraud against the federal government. Keep reading →


This is one in a series of profileson the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features Management Excellence medal finalists from the Office of Personnel Management in Washington, D.C., Joseph Kennedy, deputy associate director, Ray Decker, assistant director and Hakeem Basheerud-Deen, deputy assistant director.

Declaring that the government has an obligation to those who have served and sacrificed in defense of our nation, President Obama in 2009 issued an executive order calling for federal agencies to step up efforts to recruit and hire qualified veterans. Keep reading →


This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Career Achievement medal Lynne Mofenson, chief of the Pediatric, Adolescent and Maternal Branch at the National Institutes of Health in Rockville, Md.

As the number of children with AIDS increased dramatically in the United States and around the world during the late 1980s, the depressing fact was that little could be done to prevent infants from getting HIV, the virus that causes the terrible disease. Keep reading →


This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Management Excellence medal Elliott B. Branch, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for acquisition and procurement.

The Navy and the Marine Corps each year award about $90 billion dollars in contracts for everything from submarines and battleships to fighter jets, helicopters, complex weapons systems, trucks, uniforms and body armor. Keep reading →


This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features Citizen Services medal finalists Susan Angell, executive director of the Veterans Homeless Initiative at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Mark Johnston, deputy assistant secretary for special needs, Office of Community Planning and Development at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Homeless Veterans Initiative Team.

Some have called it a “national disgrace,” the presence of thousands of homeless veterans on American streets and in shelters. Keep reading →

This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the National Security and International Affairs medal Charles Scoville, chief of the Amputee Patient Care Service at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

The building in a Washington, D.C. suburb where young athletes are engaged in intensive training activities is not an Olympic workout facility, but an advanced center for military amputees-part of a unique rehabilitation program designed and developed by Charles Scoville. Keep reading →


This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Science and Environment medal Kyle Myers, director of research in imaging and applied mathematics at the Food and Drug Administration in Silver Spring, Md.

Medical devices such as magnetic resonance imaging technology, ultrasound machines and CT scans are used to create images of the human body for medical procedures and to diagnose a wide range of ailments from cancer and heart problems to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
The reliability of the information gleaned from these devices depends on a number of factors-the quality of the images, the diagnostic methods used to assess those images and the skill of the radiologists who interpret the information. Keep reading →


This is one in a series of profiles on the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Science and Environment medal Myron “Ron” Diftler, robonaut project lead in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Robotics Systems Technology Branch in Houston, Texas, and his Robonaut2 Team.

An advanced robot with a unique human-like hand is working with astronauts on board the International Space Station, thanks to revolutionary technology developed by a project team headed by Myron “Ron” Diftler. Keep reading →


This is one in a series of profileson the 2012 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal finalists. The awards, presented by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, recognize outstanding federal employees whose important, behind-the-scenes work is advancing the health, safety and well-being of Americans and are among the most prestigious honors given to civil servants. This profile features a finalist for the Justice and Law Enforcement medal Kelly Maltagliati, special agent-in-charge for the National Archives and Records Administration’s Archival Recovery Team in the Office of Inspector General.

Thousands of historical documents have disappeared over the years from the National Archives-the patent for the Wright Brothers’ airplane, target maps of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Civil War telegrams written by Abraham Lincoln, a copy of FDR’s “Day of Infamy” speech and NASA photographs from space. Keep reading →

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