Walk in the shoes of an offsite fellow with the Big Ideas Lab podcast

Walk through any federal building and you might spot them. A Livermore face among the crowd. Not visitors. Not consultants. Fellows. Some are sent to Washington, others remain local in Silicon Valley, and a select few even concentrate their efforts toward the final frontier: space.

But whether D.C. or deep space, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) brings its expertise where it’s needed most through the Offsite Fellows Program. Learn more by listening to the latest episode of the Big Ideas Lab on Apple and Spotify.

When you think of a scientist’s career, your mind might flash to a white lab coat, the careful pouring and measuring of chemicals or the thrill of a groundbreaking experiment. At LLNL, those things are certainly present. But the work of a scientist also extends far beyond the conventional laboratory into more surprising, non-traditional, collaborative spaces.

The Offsite Fellows Program allows Lawrence Livermore employees to accept temporary assignments in governmental host offices and agencies to lend their guidance, expertise and knowledge on complex national security issues. Working side-by-side with the U.S. federal government isn’t optional; it’s essential.

“The Offsite Fellows Program is just a gem of a program at the Lab,” said Katie Schaper, the Offsite Fellows Program manager at LLNL. “We help connect the Lab with agencies, mostly in Washington, D.C., through these short-term fellowships.

“I think what makes this program really critical, is that the Lab is directly lending its expertise in the rooms where major decisions are being made. We're helping the government respond better to threats and maintain its security.”

Some offsite assignments take fellows into the depths of arms control and global security, while others allow fellows to explore the future of national defense on a cosmic level.

For example, from 2021 to 2024, Livermore offsite fellow Barry Kirkendall served as technical director for the Defense Innovation Unit’s Space Portfolio, where he led efforts to bring emerging commercial space technologies into national defense.

When he returned to Livermore in May 2025, he didn’t just carry the experience from launching national security initiatives into orbit. He brought vision, new relationships and a deeper understanding of federal priorities from his time spent with the Pentagon.

“I’ve come to see that it's critical thinking that the government really needs,” Kirkendall said. “There are a million different ideas. They need to know, ‘what should I do? There are a million things I could do, what should I do?’ And that ability, that’s what we do here [at LLNL]. We critically think.”

Learn more about Kirkendall’s experience and the challenges tackled by other offsite fellows in the latest episode of the Big Ideas Lab, available on Apple and Spotify.