Hello everyone and thank you for joining us for the Commerce Department’s 72^nd Annual Honor Awards ceremony. I am grateful for this opportunity to reflect on all we have achieved during this past year and to honor some of the more exceptional accomplishments of our colleagues.

Given how difficult 2020 has been for so many, I am truly inspired by the resilience shown by the men and women of Commerce.

Our entire Department should take great pride in that we continued to deliver results for the American people despite the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Let me first congratulate the 349 recipients of this year’s gold and silver medal awards, which are the highest Department honor given to employees for distinguished performance. These gold and silver awards will remain a major highlight for your entire career and they are well deserved for your excellence in executing our Department’s mission.

It is my privilege today to announce this year’s recipients of the Ron Brown Excellence in Innovation Award. Ron Brown was our nation’s first African-American Commerce Secretary. He was a proponent of public service, a champion of the men and women of our Department, and a supporter of those who took risks to solve big challenges.

This April will mark 25 years since that tragic day, when Secretary Brown and 11 other Commerce Department colleagues left our world in a tragic accident. The Ron Brown Excellence in Innovation Award honors his legacy and recognizes those Commerce employees who have demonstrated exceptional creativity and talent in improving the work of our Department.

It is my pleasure to announce that the 2020 Ron Brown Excellence in Innovation Award goes to NOAA’s Autonomous Surface Vehicle CO2 Sensor System Team, represented by Noah Lawrence-Slavas, Adrienne Sutton, Stacy Maenner Jones, Randy Bott, and Christian Meinig.

This team successfully managed the first autonomous circumnavigation of Antarctica using an Autonomous Surface Vehicle in partnership with the company Saildrone. The vehicle’s CO2 sensor collected more than 4,000 air and sea measurements of CO2 during its 13,800 mile journey. These never-before-collected data give us new insights on the behavior of the Southern Ocean and how CO2 emissions are impacting our climate.

Congratulations to NOAA and to all our award recipients for their incredible achievements this past year.

To all my Commerce Department colleagues, Secretary Ross and I thank you for your continued service to the American people. Our work remains more important than ever and we look forward to all the accomplishments still to come.

I wish each and every one of you good health and continued success in the new year.