Back
Academic Engagement
LLNL, UC San Diego host workshop for innovative fusion concepts
More than 80 attendees recently gathered at the University of California (UC) Livermore Collaboration Center for the Innovative Concepts for Inertial Fusion Energy (IC-IFE) 2026 International Physics Workshop. Hosted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and UC San Diego, the three-day conference was supported by the Japan-U.S. Collaboration Program in Fusion…
Three Lawrence fellows selected for 2026 cohort
This year’s three Lawrence fellows will pursue research that spans fusion science, emerging concepts for sensing and response and earth system science. Their work reflects both the breadth of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) mission space and the program’s commitment to enabling early-career scientists to take bold, multidisciplinary approaches to…
Big Ideas Lab explores how the Genesis Mission aims to accelerate scientific discovery
Scientific discovery has always moved through a familiar cycle: question, hypothesis, experiment and a result. In the latest episode of the Big Ideas Lab podcast, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) explores how the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Genesis Mission aims to accelerate that process by uniting AI, high-performance computing (HPC), experiments and the…
LLNL showcases AI-enabled science, national security and energy innovation at AI+ Expo
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) leaders, scientists and engineers joined national voices at the Special Competitive Studies Project’s (SCSP) AI+ Expo May 7-9 in Washington, D.C., highlighting how AI is reshaping science, security and energy innovation. The public Expo brought together government, industry, academic and Department of Energy (DOE) national…
AI expands what research projects students can accomplish at LLNL’s STEM with Phones workshop
Forget spreadsheets. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) STEM with Phones student workshop, students are using smartphones and artificial intelligence (AI) to conduct advanced scientific analysis. Led by LLNL’s David Rakestraw, participants in the program discover how to turn a tool already in their pocket — a smartphone — into an instrument for…
Meet LLNL: Laser Material Interaction Deputy Group Leader Sonny Ly
Sonny Ly has built a career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) combining laser physics, materials science and mentorship. A deputy group leader in the Laser Material Interaction Science Group within the Materials Science Division under Physical and Life Sciences, Ly first came to the Lab in 2010 as a graduate student from the University of California, Davis…
LLNL named 2026 Manufacturer of the Year by AMBayArea
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has been named the 2026 Manufacturer of the Year in the large manufacturer category by the Association of Manufacturers Bay Area (AMBayArea), recognizing the Lab’s leadership in advanced manufacturing, engineering and national security innovation. The award was announced April 21 during the AMBayArea Summit at the Chabot Space …
New protein-screening platform accelerates rare-earth separation for U.S. supply chain
To ensure a robust domestic supply chain in the U.S., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists are using bacterial proteins to separate the rare-earth elements that are ubiquitous in magnets, batteries and electronics. These proteins, called lanmodulin, evolved in bacteria that use rare-earth elements to power their metabolism. But to scale up and advance…
Looking into the void to cancel out material instabilities
Picture two materials sandwiched together. The boundary between them may appear flat, but, in reality, it is full of tiny bumps and dents. Suddenly, the materials are hit with a shockwave. If that wave hits a bump in the material interface, it slows down. If it hits a dent, it accelerates forward. This imbalance creates fast, narrow jets of material — called the Richtmyer…
Weapons Physics & Design ACT awards drive university partnerships and research
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has announced five research teams selected for awards through the Lab’s FY26 Academic Collaboration Team (ACT) annual call for proposals. Awards support university research partners for up to three years to perform research in collaboration with Lab scientists and offer an important way to build long-term connections with…
All 50 episodes of the Big Ideas Lab now available on LLNL podcast page
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) Big Ideas Lab podcast marks a new milestone with the release of its 50th episode. The latest episode, delving into high-performance computing for energy innovation, can be found alongside the entire series on the new LLNL podcast page. Since its debut in September 2024, the Big Ideas Lab has aimed to rethink how science…
Grad student Wyatt Larrinaga explores how proteins bind to radioactive elements for fellowship at LLNL
As a fifth-year graduate student at the Pennsylvania State University, Wyatt Larrinaga investigates how proteins can be used to separate lanthanides. These elements, plus two others, make up the rare earth elements that are critical for technology, defense and a robust domestic energy supply. But somewhere along the way, Larrinaga grew interested in branching out. Or,…
LLNL delivers advanced gamma-ray spectrometer for NASA’s Dragonfly mission to explore Titan
Hundreds of millions of miles away from Earth, the landscape of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, bears a striking resemblance to our own planet — but with dunes of hydrocarbon sands rather than silica sands, and rain, rivers, lakes and seas of liquid methane and ethane rather than liquid water. The NASA Dragonfly mission is set to explore this world in unprecedented detail…
Science at the State invites students on a cosmic hunt for stardust in meteorites on April 11
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is again partnering with the State Theatre in Modesto for the next “Science at the State” event, happening on Saturday, April 11. This year’s program, titled “Cosmic Treasure Hunt: Finding Stardust in Meteorites,” will feature a scientific presentation paired with the family-friendly film Ice Age Collision Course (rated PG)…
Cryogenic micro-calorimetry offers a novel material-dating method for nuclear forensics and safeguards
The moment nuclear material is produced, processed or purified, it sets off a hidden countdown, marked by the half-life of its radioactive atoms as they begin to decay. For scientists tracking the origins of these substances, decoding this natural clock is crucial for verifying material histories in support of global security efforts. In a new study published in the…
LLNL optics expert Wren Carr named SPIE Fellow
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) Wren Carr was recently selected as a Fellow of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. He is the science and technology group leader for National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser-induced damage and mitigation science. “I feel honored to be recognized by SPIE for my leadership, mentorship and technical…
Engineered yeast produce acids needed to refine rare-earth elements
From mining to magnet manufacturing, the process for refining rare-earth elements is complex and intensive. The supply chain for such critical materials is dominated by China — and so is the oxalic acid needed for the separation and purification stages. To move toward a U.S. supply chain for rare-earth element recovery, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National…
LLNL-led study uses machine learning, veterans’ health records to identify ALS drug-repurposing candidate
A Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL)-led team of scientists and computational engineers has identified several existing medications that may be associated with longer survival in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), using one of the largest electronic health record datasets ever assembled for ALS. Published in The Lancet Digital Health, the study…
Advanced Radiographic Capability achievements featured in Physics of Plasmas
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF) is the hottest place on earth for the briefest of moments during an experiment. Now, it can be one of the brightest places thanks to the Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC), NIF’s laser-within-the-laser. How this is possible and how it’s measured is detailed in the cover paper of the December 2025…
Finding resonance: How LLNL expertise is amplifying collaboration in quantum computing
In November, the Department of Energy Office of Science renewed the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center (SQMS), hosted by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, with $125 million over the next five years to accelerate breakthroughs in quantum information science. The investment continues to unite more than 300 experts from 43 partner institutions across…
