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Lawrence Livermore recognizes latest graduates of Machinist Apprentice Program

Zach Dunn has always enjoyed working on cars and building things with his hands. Deciding a four-year college wasn’t for him, he pursued the trades as a machinist, joining Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s prestigious Machinist Apprentice Program in 2017 right out of high school. On July 29, Dunn became one of five recent graduates of the program for 2020 and 2021…

LLNL hosts Test Site Verification Team orientation

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) hosted an in-person orientation meeting recently for members of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Test Site Verification Team (TSVT). TSVT is sponsored by NNSA’s Office of Nuclear Verification (ONV) Nuclear Compliance Verification (NCV) Program. The TSVT is led by Kim Knight from LLNL and Emily Schultz…

LLNL optimizes flow-through electrodes for electrochemical reactors with 3D printing

To take advantage of the growing abundance and cheaper costs of renewable energy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and engineers are 3D printing flow-through electrodes (FTEs), core components of electrochemical reactors used for converting CO2 and other molecules to useful products. As described in a paper published by the Proceedings of the…

Scientists use radiography to understand the evolution of liquid and solid microjets

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists have experimentally tested the predictions of a 2020 study that computationally investigated the effect of melting on shock driven metal microjets. That earlier work predicted that melting the base material does not necessarily lead to a substantial increase in jet mass. The LLNL team confirmed the predictions of…

LLNL and KCNSC team up to accelerate design-to-deployment with new polymer production enclave

A polymer production enclave, in partnership with the Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC) and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), is on budget and on schedule to bring modern technology into the Nuclear Security Enterprise. The enclave will enable rapid development of design and production processes of polymer parts for modernization programs. This…

LLNL and KCNSC team up to accelerate design-to-deployment with new polymer production enclave

Registrations ongoing for virtual forum on industrial machine learning applications

Registration is open through July 29 for the first-ever Machine Learning for Industry Forum (ML4I), a three-day virtual event starting Aug. 10. The forum aims to foster and illustrate the adoption of machine learning methods for practical industrial outcomes, with a strong emphasis on manufacturing. Over the course of the event, attendees will engage in dialog about…

LLNL and collaborators improve electrochemical reactor performance through 3D printing

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) scientists and their collaborators are leveraging the power of 3D printing to improve the performance of electrochemical reactors used to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) to useful energy sources, chemicals and material feedstocks. Working under a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA) with Stanford University and…

It’s no drag: New heavy vehicle design increases fuel efficiency, cuts carbon emissions

Reshaping the exterior of heavy vehicles, such as semitrucks, so that they are aerodynamically integrated along their entire length in a smooth, continuous fashion could reduce drag, increase fuel efficiency and cut carbon emissions. Using wind tunnel measurements and computational fluid dynamics simulations, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) engineers have…

Taking cues from nature, breakthrough ‘cellular fluidics’ technology could have sweeping impacts

Inspired by the way plants absorb and distribute water and nutrients, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have developed a groundbreaking method for transporting liquids and gases using 3D-printed lattice design and capillary action phenomena. In a paper published today in Nature and featured on the publication’s cover, LLNL researchers describe 3D…

Lawrence Livermore team designs semiconductor switch for next-generation communications

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) engineers have designed a new kind of laser-driven semiconductor switch that can theoretically achieve higher speeds at higher voltages than existing photoconductive devices. The development of such a device could enable next-generation satellite communication systems capable of transferring more data at a faster rate, and over…

LLNL/Tyvak space telescope goes into orbit

Thousands of images of Earth and space have been taken by a compact space imaging payload developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers and its collaborator Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems. Known as GEOStare2, the payload has two space telescopes that together have taken more than 4,500 pictures for space domain awareness, astronomy and Earth…

Army reservists a vital part of Lab’s workforce

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) joins in the celebration of the U.S. Army birthday on June 14. Created in 1775, the army originally consisted of volunteer soldiers with roots to the Continental Army — and was formed to fight the Revolutionary War. Today, as the largest branch of the country’s military, the proud men and women of the U.S. Army continue to…

Machine learning aids in materials design

A long-held goal by chemists across many industries, including energy, pharmaceuticals, energetics, food additives and organic semiconductors, is to imagine the chemical structure of a new molecule and be able to predict how it will function for a desired application. In practice, this vision is difficult, often requiring extensive laboratory work to synthesize, isolate,…

DOE honors two early career Lab scientists

Two scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) are recipients of the 2021 Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science Early Career Research Program award. Andrea Schmidt and Xue Zheng are among 83 scientists nationwide selected for the recognition. Under the program, typical awards for DOE national laboratory staff are $500,000 per year for five years…

LLNL-patented power grid technology could reduce global CO2 emissions by 10 percent or more

To address inefficiencies in transmitting electricity over smart grids, engineers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and their collaborators have developed a light-activated switch that, if fully deployed, could reduce carbon emissions by more than 10 percent. Capable of sending high-voltage, direct-current power along grid lines and switching high voltages…

LLNL-developed thin-film electrodes reveal key insight into human brain activity

Thin-film electrodes developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have been used in human patients at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), generating never-before-seen recordings of brain activity in the hippocampus, a region responsible for memory and other cognitive functions. In a study published today in the journal Nature Communications,…

Conference papers highlight importance of data security to machine learning

The 2021 Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, the premier conference of its kind, will feature two papers co-authored by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researcher targeted at improving the understanding of robust machine learning models. Both papers include contributions from LLNL computer scientist Bhavya Kailkhura and examine the…

Students build knowledge of machinist trade during Lab's first-ever virtual Manufacturing Workshop

The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t prevent local high school students from learning what it’s like to be one of the more than 150 machinists who work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) during the Materials Engineering Division’s (MED) Manufacturing Workshop, held April 20-22. Students attended the three-day workshop virtually after their school days ended, where…

Lawrence Livermore takes part in international planetary defense conference

Ten scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) last week took part in the 7th IAA Planetary Defense Conference (PDC), hosted by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in cooperation with the European Space Agency. Megan Bruck Syal, who helped lead the Lab’s participation in the event and who also was a conference session chair, said this year…