Alison Christopherson, Art Pak elected NAS Kavli fellows

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) staff scientists Alison Christopherson and Art Pak have been elected Kavli fellows of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS).

As new Kavli fellows, they participated in NAS’ annual Kavli Frontiers of Science U.S. symposium, which brings together outstanding young scientists to discuss exciting advances and opportunities in a broad range of disciplines.

“This was one of the best conferences I’ve ever attended,” Christopherson said. “There was such a broad range of disciplines, from oceanographers who scuba dive to conduct research to data scientists working on the new James Webb telescope. I especially appreciated the diversity of the attendees.”

“It’s a real honor to be chosen as a Kavli fellow,” Pak said. “The symposium was a wonderful and stimulating experience, as I got to hear from and interact with leading experts in a diverse and exciting range of fields from machine learning, astrophysics and climate science.”

Pak gave an overview of LLNL’s fusion ignition result as part of a panel discussion on nuclear fusion energy with Richard Magee of TAE Technologies and Cami Collins of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

"Participants were very interested not only in the technical details, but in hearing and understanding how the collective efforts from hundreds of scientists, engineers and technicians from multiple disciplines came together to enable this remarkable achievement,” he said.

Christopherson presented a poster on inertial fusion energy (IFE), describing the National Ignition Facility’s fusion achievement, the potential for IFE and the future of the field. Both engagements drew a lot of attention at the symposium.

Christopherson, who joined LLNL in 2020 after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Rochester, works in design physics in Weapons and Complex Integration. Pak is the team lead for stagnation science in NIF & Photon Science.

Christopherson and Pak are the Lab’s eighth and ninth Kavli fellows since the program began in 1989. LLNL Kavli fellows include Felicie Albert, Jonathan Belof, Ken Caldeira, Henry Chapman, Tom Guilderson, Stefan Hau-Riege and Michael MacCracken.

The symposium is sponsored by the Kavli Foundation, founded by the late Fred Kavli to advance science and promote the understanding of scientific research.