News

Construction to begin on world's largest camera

The Department of Energy has approved the start of construction for a 3.2-gigapixel digital camera — the world’s largest — for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).The construction milestone, known as Critical Decision 3, is the last major approval decision before the acceptance of the finished camera. Construction of the telescope was previously approved by the National Science...

Meet Tsuyoshi Kohlgruber: future researcher

Editor's Note: This is one in a series of articles highlighting the diverse group of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory summer students. ______________The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) student internship program is designed to allow students to engage in work-study employment opportunities in relevant science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and administrative...

Author of 'The Martian' thrills Lab employees

Imagine being inadvertently left for dead on Mars, completely alone and abandoned by your crew, with nothing but your wits and a scant amount of precious supplies to keep you alive.That’s the enthralling premise of the best-selling science-fiction survival novel and soon-to-be released motion picture, "The Martian," scheduled to run in theaters nationwide on Oct. 2.Amidst a whirlwind media...

Lab scientist receives chemical society award

Laboratory geochemist Annie Kersting, who serves as the director of the Lab’s Glenn T. Seaborg Institute, has been selected to receive the 2016 American Chemical Society’s Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal for distinguished service to chemistry.The medal recognizes outstanding scientific achievement, leadership and service to chemistry by women and is a national award open to all chemists...

Native American students spend a day at LLNL as part of the Inter-Tribal Energy and Tech Tour

August marked the road trip of a lifetime for seven students (ages 13 to 18) from regional tribes. They traveled 3,500 miles through five Western states within one week to learn from state-of-the art organizations about energy, technology and partnerships.The Inter-Tribal Energy and Tech Tour is an annual summer camp, in its third year, coordinated by Redbridge, a Native American-owned...

Former Lawrence Livermore astrophysicist appointed director of UC Observatories

Longtime Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory astrophysicist Claire Max has shifted her focus to a new frontier as the recently appointed director of the University of California Observatories (UCO).After serving at the post on an interim basis for the past year, Max’s appointment to the directorship began July 1. Over the next five years, she will work with faculty, scientists and staff...

Giant galaxy collision triggered 'radio phoenix'

Astronomers have found evidence for a faded electron cloud "coming back to life," much like the mythical phoenix, after two galaxy clusters collided.This "radio phoenix," so-called because the high-energy electrons radiate primarily at radio frequencies, is found in Abell 1033. The system is located about 1.6 billion light years from Earth.By combining data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray...

Computation welcomes 2015 summer scholars

Summer at the Laboratory is marked by long days, scorching weather and a seasonal infusion of talented students and faculty members. This year, Computation’s Institute for Scientific Computing Research (ISCR) welcomed 165 summer scholars from 97 universities in 9 countries — the largest group yet. These scholars, selected from among 715 applicants, comprised four faculty members, 86 graduate...

LLNL mentors inaugural class of 'data heroes'

Data Heroes — able to leap stacks of data with a few lines of code — were in residence at Livermore this summer. With access to the Computation Directorate’s faster-than-a-speeding-bullet, more-powerful-than-a-locomotive high-performance computing systems, 20 interns came to Livermore to learn about and work on significant data science problems.Students in the inaugural class of Livermore’s D...

Registration open for annual San Joaquin 'Expanding Your Horizons' Conference

Register now for the 23rd annual San Joaquin Expanding Your Horizons (EYH) Conference on Saturday, Oct. 10, at the University of the Pacific in Stockton. Registration is limited to the first 550 registrants. This popular daylong event is held for girls, grades 6 to 12, to increase interest in and foster awareness of careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Attendees...

Lab, industry take charge of clean energy

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory officials met with energy industry representatives Tuesday to discuss ways in which the two entities can work more closely.The event highlighted a public-private partnership to engage energy storage companies with LLNL’s world-class research capabilities and facilities through the CalCharge consortium.During a daylong open house, energy storage industry...

Research award named after late LLNL scientist

The first Dr. Ian Hutcheon Post-Doctoral Fellowship award, to support research in nuclear forensics as part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Domestic Nuclear Detection Office’s (DNDO) National Nuclear Forensics Expertise Development Program, has been established. The fellowship honors the late Hutcheon, who significantly advanced America’s nuclear forensics capability during his...

Nonproliferation research nets excellence medal

Anne Harrington, the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) deputy administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, recently presented the NNSA Excellence Medal to Leon Berzins for the successful Source Physics Experiment 4 Prime (SPE4) campaign at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS).The experiments, designed to provide a better understanding of seismo-accoustic propagation...

Cyber Defenders 'boot camp' prepares students for mission-critical roles in wake of OPM breach

Against the backdrop of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) breach, the 2015 edition of the Laboratory’s Cyber Defenders internship offers an especially compelling introduction to cybersecurity for students who may soon serve on the front lines of cyberdefense.Now in its sixth year, the Cyber Defenders summer internship program was founded by Celeste Matarazzo in 2009 to provide hands-on...

Meet Austin Carter: future nuclear engineer

Editor's Note: This is one in a series of articles highlighting the diverse group of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory summer students. ______________The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) student internship program is designed to allow students to engage in work-study employment opportunities in relevant science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and administrative...

Lawrence Livermore to host CalCharge clean tech innovation effort to work with industry

What: CalCharge and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) will announce a groundbreaking public-private partnership to engage energy storage companies with LLNL’s world-class research capabilities and facilities. Storage industry leaders and innovators as well as Lab officials will explain how they will work together to drive research and development of clean energy technologies. New...

Nanocrystals don't add up for reactor materials

Lawrence Livermore researchers have found that nanocrystalline materials do not necessarily resist radiation effects in nuclear reactors better than currently used materials.As researchers hunt for materials with the ability to withstand prolonged radiation damage, the use of nanostructured materials, with high interfacial area to absorb radiation-induced defects, has been considered as an...

National Ignition Facility fires 300th shot in FY15

Last week, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) fired its 300th laser target shot in fiscal year (FY) 2015, meeting the year’s goal more than six weeks early. In comparison, the facility completed 191 target shots in FY 2014. Located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the NIF is the world’s most energetic laser.Increasing the shot rate has been a top priority for the Inertial...

Applications due for the Lawrence Livermore National Security 2015 Community Gift Program

LIVERMORE, Calif. – Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS) is seeking applications for its annual Community Gift Program to benefit local and surrounding area nonprofit organizations. The deadline to apply is Friday, Aug. 21.Established in 2008, the Community Gift Program provides a total of $100,000 in awards to nonprofit organizations that support science, technology, engineering...

Lawrence Livermore teams up with Autodesk to investigate design of next-generation materials

Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and a Bay Area company are joining forces to explore how design software can accelerate innovation for three-dimensional printing of advanced materials.Under an 18-month Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), LLNL will use state-of-the-art software for generative design from San Rafael-based Autodesk Inc. as it...