Duncan McBranch is the Laboratory’s new deputy principal associate director for Science, Technology and Engineering (PADSTE). Principal Associate Director for Science, Technology and Engineering Terry Wallace announced the appointment Thursday.
"Among the many qualified candidates who applied for the position, Duncan offered a range of skills and abilities that are most likely to help me chart the future path for science at the Laboratory,” said Wallace. "His experience in the world of business and input on how to make Los Alamos science more capability-based, productive, and inventive will be valuble."
During his tenure as Technology Transfer (TT) Division leader since 2005, McBranch led the Laboratory’s efforts to commercialize new technologies and to partner with industry to strengthen Laboratory capabilities. By more effectively leveraging Laboratory intellectual assets, TT has grown the size and impact of the Laboratory’s intellectual property portfolio. McBranch oversaw a strong growth in the funds-in for cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs) and non-federal work for others.
A number of new initiatives and policies were initiated under McBranch’s leadership, including the launch of Web-based tools for patent disclosures (IDEAS), tracking Laboratory awards (AWARDS), and licensing new technologies. The focus on growing strategic alliances with industry has resulted in several new multi-project CRADAs that cross several technical divisions, such as the Alliance for Advanced Energy Solutions with Chevron.
McBranch’s own entrepreneurial experience allowed him to lead the adoption of several new entrepreneurial programs in support of the Laboratory’s mission for regional economic development, including expansion of interactions with regional venture capital and business communities. Working with the Laboratory’s Community Programs Office (CPO), Technology Transfer designed several new economic development initiatives funded by the Los Alamos National Security’s contract fee as part of Northern New Mexico Connect, including the LANS Venture Acceleration Fund, and the springboard program to provide technology market insights to regional companies.
McBranch will be tasked with helping Wallace sustain scientific excellence, formulating and building PADSTE science strategy, science programs, and laboratory facilities, and helping guide the future development of the Laboratory’s scientific work force.
McBranch considers his appointment a rare opportunity to help shape the Laboratory’s future. “I think that today, more than any time in its history, the future of science at Los Alamos is being cast, said McBranch. “What we all do in the next few years will set the scientific course for the Laboratory for decades to come. It is particularly important as a capabilities-driven organization to grow a strong set of partnerships and programs that strengthen our national security missions.”
McBranch came to Los Alamos in 1992 as a Director’s Postdoctoral Fellow. He was a technical staff member and team leader through 1999, leading a research team investigating novel polymeric materials for nanotechnology with applications in optics and electronics. He led a successful effort to develop and commercialize new optical limiting materials for eye protection from pulsed lasers. The technology was eventually recognized with a prestigious R&D 100 award in 2001.
Beginning in 1998, McBranch’s technology efforts focused on developing new biological sensing materials and technologies and in September 1999, together with David Whitten, he founded QTL Biosystems, a biotechnology company that sells rapid assays for the life sciences markets and handheld detection solutions for environmental pathogen detection. He served as QTL’s President/CEO through December 2003, leading the company through the startup phase and into production on its first products. He then served as chairman and chief operating officer of QTL through December 2004, expanding its product lines in new drug discovery and biodetection.
McBranch has a broad technical background in materials chemistry, optics, and biotechnology. He received his doctoral degree in condensed matter physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and undergraduate degree in mathematics and physics from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.
