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Kathryn Anderson Wahl ’87, a senior researcher at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), has been awarded the 2025 E.O. Hulburt Annual Science Award for pioneering research that has advanced the scientific understanding of adhesion, lubrication, and nanoscale contact mechanics. 

The Hulburt Award is one of NRL’s highest honors and recognizes significant scientific contributions by a civilian researcher at the laboratory. Wahl received the award for her groundbreaking work investigating interfacial contacts and processes associated with tribology, nano mechanics, and biofouling, which has improved understanding of how materials interact, degrade, and adhere under real-world conditions. 

Her research integrated optical spectroscopy with tribological instrumentation, enabling scientists to directly observe chemical and structural changes occurring at sliding interfaces. This capability helped clarify how layered lubricants behave and degrade under stress. 

“These techniques allowed us to see what was happening inside sliding contacts in ways that hadn’t been possible before,” Wahl says. “Much of the progress we’ve made came from collaborations with extremely talented colleagues across the Laboratory and the broader scientific community.” 

Wahl’s work also helped establish new experimental methods for studying nanoscale adhesion and contact mechanics, including the development of a nanoscale Johnson-Kendall-Roberts (JKR) adhesion method that is now widely used to introduce students and researchers to nanoscale contact stiffness phenomena. Beyond tribology, Wahl’s interdisciplinary research has significantly advanced the understanding of biofouling and barnacle adhesion, an area critical to naval operations. By combining chemical, biological, and materials science approaches, her team helped reveal the chemical and mechanical mechanisms that enable barnacles to attach to surfaces underwater. 

The work has informed the design of next-generation underwater adhesives and environmentally friendly antifouling technologies, with potential applications for naval platforms. Over more than a decade, Wahl led collaborative research programs bringing together scientists from multiple NRL divisions to investigate barnacle adhesion chemistry, biomechanics, and surface interactions. 

“Underwater adhesion has always been a challenge, and it’s been overcome because of Dr. Wahl’s work,” says Capt. Randy Cruz, the commanding officer of NRL. “This is a very distinguished and well-deserved award.”