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Lawrence Livermore researchers named senior members by the Optical Society of America

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers Tiziana Bond and Jean Michel Di Nicola were recently named senior members of the Optical Society (OSA), an international society for optics and photonics scientists, engineers, educators and business leaders. Senior membership status recognizes members with more than 10 years of significant experience and professional…

Despite heavy storms and rough seas, Laboratory team captures missile flight data

"Everything was very successful, but this was the toughest mission we’ve ever supported." That was the assessment of Steve Yakuma, LLNL’s ICBM flight test director, when asked to sum up his team’s support of the recently completed GT214 and GT215 missile flight tests off of Saipan in the South Pacific.ICBM test flights are regularly launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base…

Implantable electrode coating good as gold

A team of researchers from Lawrence Livermore and UC Davis have found that covering an implantable neural electrode with nanoporous gold could eliminate the risk of scar tissue forming over the electrode’s surface.The team demonstrated that the nanostructure of nanoporous gold achieves close physical coupling of neurons by maintaining a high neuron-to-astrocyte surface…

3D-printed aerogels improve energy storage

A new type of graphene aerogel will make for better energy storage, sensors, nanoelectronics, catalysis and separations.Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have made graphene aerogel microlattices with an engineered architecture via a 3D printing technique known as direct ink writing. The research appears in the April 22 edition of the journal, Nature…

Nerine Cherepy selected as IEEE senior member

Livermore scientist Nerine Cherepy has been selected as a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). Cherepy, who joined the Laboratory in 1998, has contributed to a variety of programs at Livermore, including the joint invention of a novel direct carbon fuel cell for the energy program, the establishment of the cleaning protocol used…

Lawrence Livermore scientist installed president of Minerals, Metals and Materials Society

Patrice Turchi of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was recently installed as the 2015 president of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) during the organization’s annual meeting in March.Turchi, who is group leader of the LLNL Material Science Division’s Advanced Metallurgical Science and Engineering group, has been an active member of TMS for more than…

Signal, image sciences workshop set for May 13

The 2015 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Signal and Image Sciences Workshop will take place May 13 at the Livermore Valley Open Campus' High Performance Computing Innovation Center.The 19th annual free workshop is a signature event of the Engineering Directorate's Center for Advanced Signal and Image Sciences (CASIS). Co-sponsored by the East Bay chapter of the…

Veterans to share intern experience on Reddit

Veterans interning at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) will field questions on the popular social media website Reddit on Tuesday, March 24, about their career-technical education and training in support of national security research.The veterans are pilot participants in the new Troops to Technology Workforce Development Initiative and are looking to share…

LLNL researchers garner two contracts for rocket propulsion, space launch vehicle work

Two recent contracts worth nearly $1.5 million have brought the Laboratory back into the rocket development business.The last Livermore designed and fabricated rocket vehicle, powered by an LLNL engine, was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in 1994. It was conceived and designed by aerospace engineer John Whitehead and his team, which included collaborators from…

America Makes taps Lawrence Livermore, GE to develop open source algorithms for 3D printing

LIVERMORE, Calif. – General Electric (GE) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) recently received $540,000 to develop open-source algorithms that will improve additive manufacturing of metal parts.The award is from America Makes, the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute that’s focused on helping the U.S. grow capabilities and strength in 3D…

DARPA taps Lab to restore touch to amputees

LIVERMORE, Calif. – The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently selected Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to join a collaborative research team that intends to build the world’s first neural system to enable naturalistic feeling and movements in prosthetic hands.Known as Hand Proprioception and Touch Interfaces (HAPTIX), the program seeks to…

Microcapsules capture carbon safely

Using the same baking soda found in most grocery stores, Lawrence Livermore scientists, along with colleagues from Harvard University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, have created a significant advance in carbon dioxide capture.The team developed a new type of carbon capture media composed of core-shell microcapsules, which consist of a highly permeable…

California employers train service members for advanced manufacturing jobs

LIVERMORE, California — California employers have created a pipeline to train and educate active-duty service members and veterans for careers in advance manufacturing to fill a workforce shortage for a burgeoning industry.Lawrence Livermore and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories, NASA Ames Research Center and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and other employers are…

Four researchers to be inducted into Lawrence Livermore Entrepreneurs' Hall Of Fame

Four former Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and engineers will be inducted next week into the Laboratory’s Entrepreneurs’ Hall of Fame (EHF).The group of former Lab researchers, who represent the second class of inductees into the Lab’s EHF, will be honored for developing technologies during or after their Lab careers that created major economic…

Colleges, labs develop STEM core curriculum

The success of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Engineering Technology Program to educate veterans for technical careers has inspired a statewide push to create an educational core curriculum to prepare junior college students for technical jobs at California’s national labs. The core curriculum being designed by a consortium of community colleges, national labs…

Lawrence Livermore researchers develop efficient method to produce nanoporous metals

LIVERMORE, California — Nanoporous metals — foam-like materials that have some degree of air vacuum in their structure — have a wide range of applications because of their superior qualities.They posses a high surface area for better electron transfer, which can lead to the improved performance of an electrode in an electric double capacitor or battery. Nanoporous metals…

Researchers develop efficient method to measure residual stress in 3D printed parts

LIVERMORE, California – Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have developed an efficient method to measure residual stress in metal parts produced by powder-bed fusion additive manufacturing.This 3D printing process produces metal parts layer by layer using a high-energy laser beam to fuse metal powder particles. When each layer is complete, the build…

Lawrence Livermore develops infrared camera system to view tokamak from the inside

LIVERMORE, Calif. – General Atomics’ DIII-D Tokamak has been a critical part of the nation’s magnetic fusion energy research since it was built in the 1980s.Over the years, wear and tear has taken its toll. However, it was impossible for researchers to see inside the San Diego company’s highly complicated machine to assess damage -- until now.Lawrence Livermore National…

Newly minted Lab machinists ready to support research

After four years of training as machinist apprentices at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Christian Oda and Will Morton are ready to apply their trade. The two graduated Sept. 18 from the Engineering Directorate's Machinist Apprentice Program.They will use their technical knowledge and skills to craft innovative research tools to help engineers and scientists…