Tech-Savvy Winners

The Partnership for Public Service handed out its top honor to federal employees on Wednesday, awarding eight individuals with its Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals.

Check out the the winners, and the descriptions for why they won. What jumps out at me is that many of the recipients relied on information technology to do some heavy lifting. At least half rely on IT to advance the delivery of services, and the others, it sounds like, relied on complicated computer models and programs to munch some heavy-duty numbers. Here are four:

--Shane Kelley, director of the Center for Automation, and Eva Ristow, project manager, both work at the Social Security Administration, won for improving the delivery of benefits to citizens living in impoverished and remote locations by using a two-way video service.

--Sandy Brooks, deputy director of intelligence and security and chief of innovation and technology, received recognition for amassing information and sharing it with military, law enforcement and homeland security agencies to stop semi-submersibles carrying drugs and possibly terrorists.

--FBI Intelligence Analyst Jamie Konstas helped stem sexual exploitation of children by helping build "a groundbreaking national online database that allows federal, state and local law enforcement officials to access detailed information about pimps and child victims."

--Teri Glass, the Army's acting project manager at the Medical Support Systems Project Management Office, developed a state-of-the-art medical evacuation kit for transporting severely wounded soldiers.

Wired Workplace is a daily look at issues facing the federal information technology workforce. It is written by former Government Executive reporter Brittany Ballenstedt, with a guest entry this week from Nextgov Executive Editor Allan Holmes, and published on Nextgov.com. Click here to read the latest entries.