2011 Federal Employee of the Year: The Crucial Calculation
As the anxiety mounted, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Director Marcia McNutt turned to Paul Hsieh, a research hydrologist with a specialty in underground water reserves, not oil, who had been in Houston studying the well for several weeks along with other USGS scientists. USGS colleague Steve Hickman had taken a cellphone picture of a computer screen showing the rising pressure in the well, and sent it to Hsieh.