Hal Graboske Steps Down As Associate Director for Chemistry & Material Science

Harold C. Graboske, Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s Associate Director for Chemistry and Materials Science since 1997 will step down once the search and selection process for a new associate director has been completed.

"I have been at the lab since 1966," said Graboske. "And I am very proud of the work we do. The laboratory was created to help enhance national security and that is as true today as it was in 1952. I look forward to watching our next generation of leaders continue these contributions of great science in support of national security."

LLNL director C. Bruce Tarter accepted Graboske’s resignation. Jeff Wadsworth, Deputy Director for Science and Technology, will head the search for a new associate director.

"I’ve very much enjoyed working with Hal in all capacities," said Bruce Tarter, laboratory director. "Our careers have essentially been intertwined for more than 30 years. We’ve worked together as scientists, as division leaders, as my deputy in Physics and in his recent role as associate director. Hal has had a splendid career and has made many contributions to the Laboratory and Chemistry and Materials Science in particular. He will be missed by all of us."

Graboske began his career at LLNL as a postdoctoral researcher, working with materials at extreme conditions, thermodynamic properties of low mass stars, giant planets and as well as applied studies in weapons materials. In 1980 he became division leader in shock physics. Also in 1980, he managed the materials physics R&D program in the weapons area and in 1984, coordinated the creation of V Division — for performing high energy density physics in support of advanced weapons concepts.

In 1989, Graboske became the Principal Deputy Associate Director in the Physics Directorate, which evolved to become the Physical Sciences Directorate under Tarter’s leadership and then in 1994 merged with Test Program to become Physics and Space Technology.

Under Graboske’s leadership, the Chemistry and Materials Science Directorate has worked with Defense and Nuclear Technologies to strengthen the materials and chemistry elements of Stockpile Stewardship; worked with the NIF Directorate to create, produce and test the new laser and optical materials needed for the National Ignition Facility, the world’s largest laser; and collaborated with NAI on inventing new technologies and new processes for countering weapons of mass destruction. CMS has also worked closely with the Energy and Environment Directorate in the Lab’s work on the Yucca Mountain Program and in creating new energy technologies. Scientifically, the directorate staff has won awards for laser materials, radiation detection technologies, and crystal growth, and has, jointly with the Dubna Laboratory, discovered two new elements.

Graboske received a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Physics and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Michigan. He is a member of the American Astronomical Society, the American Physical Society, the Materials Research Society and the American Chemical Society.