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Engineering
LLNL’s Filippo Scotti wins Dawson award for contributions toward a flipped approach for magnetic fusion
The race to put fusion energy on the grid requires scientists and engineers to continue rapidly solving key challenges and optimizing solutions. The ultimate goal is the development of a device that operates continuously with high performance and stability. A multi-institutional team from the U.S. Department of Energy’s DIII-D National Fusion Facility, including Filippo…
Anup Singh selected to lead LLNL's Strategic Threat Analysis and Response Directorate
Anup Singh has been named Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) principal associate director (PAD) for the Strategic Threat Analysis and Response (STAR) Directorate, effective Oct. 1, 2026. Singh will serve as the first PAD for the new organization. In this role, Singh will be responsible for bringing together strategic partnership programs outside LLNL’s core…
Exploring the shapes of exotic nuclei
In the conventional diagram of an atom, the center depicts a nucleus — a spherical cluster of protons and neutrons. But that sphere is a simplification: nuclei can deform into exotic shapes that appear more like a pear, football or frisbee. Understanding why and when nuclei distort is crucial for predicting and modeling how they will behave. Researchers at Lawrence…
LLNL engineer honored with inaugural University of California Regents Innovation Award
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory engineer Christopher Spadaccini is one of 23 inaugural recipients of the University of California Regents Innovation Awards. He received a Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for “innovations that have led to long-term positive impacts on the lives of others and inspiring UC inventors and entrepreneurs.” “I’m very honored to…
3D-printed, solid-state bioreactor converts methane waste to useful chemicals
When landfills and wastewater treatment plants create methane as a byproduct, much of it is simply burned and its value is lost. But the gas is an energy-rich resource, and it could be recycled as a fuel, chemical feedstock or bioproduct. Capturing and converting waste methane offers an opportunity to recover energy and create useful products from an otherwise wasted gas…
Advanced Space and LLNL to collaborate on CAPSTONE 02 spacecraft
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) will provide an advanced tri-optical imaging payload for the CAPSTONE 02 spacecraft. Led by Advanced Space’s mission-integration team, CAPSTONE 02 will demonstrate and characterize capabilities needed for future operations in the complex cislunar environment. The mission, planned to be ready to launch in 2027, will fly two…
LLNL researchers have guts
Gut instinct, gut feeling or gutting it out — what exactly is the human gut? It’s the workhorse of the digestive system and home to a vast, dynamic community of microorganisms that influence human health. In fact, the human body contains roughly equal numbers of non-human (microbial) and human cells. Now, we are poised to learn much more about the gut and its pivotal role,…
Discover the telescope redefining small-satellite optics in the Big Ideas Lab podcast
CODA, an all-aluminum, compact optics system designed for a new class of low-cost, high-impact missions, launched into orbit for the first time aboard NASA’s Pandora mission in January 2026. Built in partnership with Corning Incorporated, the telescope is an ambitious piece of precision engineering made from a material more commonly found in a hardware store. The latest…
AI-powered inspection system gives 3D printers ‘a brain behind the eyes’
Scientists and engineers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have developed a camera-based inspection system that can monitor complex 3D-printed structures layer by layer, using AI and machine learning (ML) to measure tiny variations and potentially identify problems before a part ever leaves the printer. The approach could reduce the time and labor required…
Meet LLNL: Signal and Imaging Engineer K. Aditya Mohan
LLNL signal and imaging engineer Aditya Mohan is driven by a simple but ambitious goal: to view the world through as many different wavelengths as possible. “I have a dream to bring together all the different ways of seeing an object, from X-rays to visible light to microwaves, to learn everything there is to know about its structure and properties,” he said. “A leaf is…
LLNL supports successful demonstration of a new space inspection capability
Over the past decade, global space launch cadences have grown dramatically, frequently placing multiple payloads into orbit on a single booster. Robust Space Domain Awareness (SDA) and precise characterization of resident space objects are vital to safeguarding the orbital environment. To confront this emerging national security risk, a team of scientists at Lawrence…
Teacher Research Academy connects educators to LLNL science
For nearly 30 years, LLNL has offered Teacher Research Academy (TRA) to middle school, high school and community college teachers looking for unique professional development experiences. At no cost to educators, TRA workshops offer classroom-focused applications of LLNL’s groundbreaking science and technology. Over two weeks this summer, four different TRAs were offered as…
Big Ideas Lab podcast takes on the science of scale-up
Rechargeable lithium batteries trace back to 1972, but they wouldn’t reach consumer products until 1991. Solar photovoltaic cells existed in the 1950s, long before solar panels appeared on rooftops. And the MRI was demonstrated in the 1970s, years before the machines became hospital staples. In each case, the core scientific principles had been proven. The difficult part…
LLNL CHAMPS team selected to develop a heavy-lift drone for DARPA competition
A team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and engineers pushed the limits of unmanned aerial systems to earn a place at the DARPA Lift Challenge, hosted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The LLNL Collaborative Heavy-lift Aerial unManned Propellor Systems (CHAMPS) team ranked among the 132 teams selected from more than 480…
Lab scientists and engineers win six R&D 100 awards
The FlowVAM system eliminates the need to manually exchange print volume in Tomographic Volumetric Additive Manufacturing and incorporates in situ metrology, yielding a 200-fold improvement in part production rates. Image credit: Hazel Rose Galvan/LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and engineers have earned six R&D 100 Awards, which recognize…
3D-printed ceramic waveguide lasers could surpass the power of glass fiber lasers by 10 times
At the bottom of the ocean, optical fibers transmit telecommunications and internet data across the world. Waveguides make that feat possible by channeling and amplifying the light — and therefore the data within — over enormous distances. And the technology goes beyond undersea cables. Waveguiding optics are among the most important advances in photonics since the…
The Big Ideas Lab takes measure of NIF diagnostics
How do you measure what can’t be seen? In the medical field, this is routine. Thermometers check temperatures and X-rays can show broken bones. But what if you are trying to measure something hotter than the center of the sun that vanishes in 100 trillionths of a second? What if it’s an experiment on Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF)…
A decade of discovery: the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory begins survey of the sky
The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory marked a major milestone with the beginning of the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), a 10-year effort to capture the universe in unprecedented detail. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) engineer and former project manager for the LSST Camera, Vincent Riot reflected on the culmination of the project and the journey…
Meet LLNL interns: advancing engineering, national security and artificial intelligence
Each summer, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) welcomes students from broad academic backgrounds who bring fresh perspectives and technical expertise to the Lab’s mission. This year, interns are contributing to engineering, national security, high-energy laser research and artificial intelligence. Meet four interns and learn how their LLNL experiences are…
LLNL celebrates incoming and graduating machinist apprentices
Central to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) prestigious Machinist Apprenticeship Program is a tradition of mentorship and support. That was evident on July 23, when four new apprentices joined the program and three graduating apprentices transitioned to state-certified machinists. “We are so proud of you,” said Manuel Iniguez, Manufacturing Engineering…
