Carolyn Zerkle
Principal Deputy Director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Looking to the future, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory recognizes that the security landscape around the world is evolving rapidly and that we must adapt to meet these challenges. The Laboratory’s 2050 Vision calls for agility, collaboration, and innovation so we can anticipate uncertainties and shape what comes next. One important way we are rising to that challenge is by investing in our people and in the infrastructure that supports them. To ensure a safe, positive, and collaborative environment, we must have the right facilities, utilities, and systems in place.
In this issue of Science & Technology Review (S&TR), the feature article describes Livermore’s efforts to update and modernize infrastructure across our one-square-mile campus. That compact footprint is one of the Laboratory’s great strengths, allowing us to move quickly, share expertise, and respond to new opportunities. At the same time, limited space necessitates creativity in how we design and maintain the infrastructure that keeps the Laboratory operating, from the research facilities our scientists use to the roads, equipment, and utilities our operations and technical teams maintain every day.
The Site Development Plan answers the challenge with an infrastructure concept that enhances mission readiness and provides a positive workspace. New facilities such as the National Security Innovation Center, which will centralize stockpile modernization work, and the Vertically Integrated Prototype Realization Enclave complex, which will bring together materials discovery and manufacturing development, will help us work more efficiently and collaboratively. Other planned campuses for laser fusion and high-performance computing further demonstrate how Livermore is preparing to meet current mission needs while remaining adaptable for future ones.
Just as important as mission enablement is the employee experience. We want the Laboratory to be a place where people feel safe, supported, and proud to come to work each day. That means creating spaces that are functional, welcoming, and reliable, while also giving employees what they need to do their best work. I am particularly excited about the new Livermore Employee Center, which will serve as a central gathering place for employees and a visible example of infrastructure designed with our workforce in mind. Facilities such as this strengthen our sense of community while improving day-to-day work life.
That same mindset, designing for flexibility and shared purpose, is reflected in the science featured in this issue of S&TR. The first highlight describes Livermore researchers developing a process that uses silica-processing diatoms to transform cement waste into new ingredients while also producing bio-based fuels. This work shows how innovation can emerge when we think creatively about materials, waste streams, and ways to turn one process into something more useful and is the kind of cross- disciplinary thinking our campus is meant to support.
The second highlight focuses on efforts to build a high- resolution immune response atlas that maps how the body responds to infection. By combining controlled pathogen exposure, single-cell and spatial transcriptomics, high- performance computing, and eventually AI and machine learning, the research aims to reveal patterns that could improve diagnosis and guide therapy. This work depends on infrastructure that can support data-intensive science, advanced computing, and collaboration across biology, computation, and analysis.
The final highlight describes the new dissolver train facility and interconnected glove boxes used to safely crush, dissolve, and chemically process radioactive materials before further analysis by mass spectrometry. This capability expands the Laboratory’s ability to study samples from past underground nuclear tests and supports future material analysis needs. Here again, infrastructure is central because it provides the controlled environment, safety, and technical flexibility needed for mission- critical work.
Taken together, the articles in this issue of S&TR show that infrastructure is much more than buildings, roads, or utilities. It provides the foundation for the Laboratory’s 2050 Vision of readiness, flexibility, and mission impact. By planning thoughtfully now and by valuing every member of our workforce, especially those whose efforts often happen behind the scenes, we are ensuring that Livermore remains a place where people can work safely, ideas can move quickly, and future missions can be met with confidence.
