Abstract

Los Alamos National Laboratory is a premiere national laboratory in the United States. During this talk, I will provide details on the laboratory and our mission, how the laboratory accomplishes our national security research, provide some recent scientific highlights, and discuss some of the improvements in experimental and computational physics. Specifically, I will provide an brief overview of my Purdue Ph.D. thesis work and how modern capabilities are enhancing our physics understanding in hydrodynamic instability research.

Bio:

Dr. J. Bradley (Brad) Beck is the Workforce Program Director in the Partnerships & Pipelines Office at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).  In this role, Brad is developing and leading institutional efforts to help enhance our strategic partnership pipelines and advance staff development programs.  

Brad has worked at LANL for over 30 years in a variety of technical organizations: in the Inertial Confinement Fusion Group; the Thermonuclear Applications Group; the Primary Physics Design Group; the National Security Office; the Advanced Simulation and Computing Program; the Materials Physics and Applications Division; and in the Global Security Directorate.  

During his career at LANL, Brad has held leadership positions for over 20 years in several organizations.  From 2000 through 2005, Brad served as the Deputy Group Leader for the Thermonuclear Applications Group.  After an assignment to the Advanced Simulation and Computing office in the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA; Department of Energy), he was named Deputy Group Leader for the Primary Physics Design Group, and further served as the group leader for the weapons design group I from 2005 through 2010.  During this period, he was one of the LANL co-leads for the Plutonium Pit Lifetime assessment.  In 2011, Brad joined the National Security Office that serves as an interface between nuclear weapons policy experts and the technical experts at LANL.  In 2017, Brad joined the Global Security Directorate as an executive advisor.  In 2017-2018, he served as the Acting Deputy Program Director for the Advanced Simulation and Computing LANL Program office.  In 2018, he served as the Acting Deputy Division Leader for the Materials Physics and Applications Division.  

Over his career, Brad has received 9 awards for his leadership and work (awards include NNSA Defense Program Awards of Excellence, Defense Programs Awards of Excellence, Distinguished Performance Awards, and Distinguished Mentor).   Dr. Beck has a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from Purdue University.