As Deputy for Operations, Burick will have institutional responsibility for Laboratory operations as well as line management responsibility for the Environment, Safety, and Health, Facility Engineering, and Security and Safeguards Divisions.
Starting September 1, Jim Jackson plans to take a change-of-station assignment in the College of Engineering at Brigham Young University. Jim will also serve as an advisor to the Director with particular emphasis on helping the Laboratory on nuclear regulatory issues and the possibility of external regulation of DOE nuclear facilities.
"I am very grateful to Jim Jackson for continuing as acting Deputy for Operations in my first nine months as Director," said John Browne. "His advice and leadership has been invaluable in planning our efforts to meet the special two-year provisions of the UC-DOE contract. In particular, his work on implementing the Integrated Safety Management program has been vital in meeting the milestones that are part of our Laboratory performance measures."
"The 12 years I served as the Deputy Director were both challenging and enjoyable," Jackson said. "I had the opportunity to work with many very talented and dedicated people. It is now a pleasure to pass the operational responsibility on to someone of Dick Burick's caliber. I am sure he will do a great job."
Burick will assume the deputy job on Aug. 17.
"I am pleased that Dick Burick will join my team as a Deputy," Browne said. "He has had a distinguished career both at the Lab and in industry. His understanding of operational and programmatic issues and the importance of customer satisfaction will serve him and the Laboratory well as he undertakes to improve our performance and relationships with the DOE and regulatory organizations. Dick has been taking a leadership role in the implementation of ISM over the past few years."
Burick has been division director for Engineering Sciences since 1993. ESA is the principal division responsible for engineering stewardship of the five Los Alamos nuclear weapons systems currently in the stockpile, and for the operation of the Laboratory's tritium and high explosive handling facilities.
"In addressing our Laboratory operational issues we have set the right course with our ISM initiative and now we must stay the course and complete it's implementation," Burick said. "Also, I plan to give increased emphasis to our environmental responsibilities."
Burick has held a variety of positions at the Laboratory since he arrived in 1975. In 1992, he was the Deputy Associate Director for Laboratory Development. From 1990 to 1992, Burick was program development coordinator for new space programs while he was on assignment in Washington, DC, and served as the Lab's principal investigator for Laboratory Directed Research and Development space programs.
Five years earlier, he served as Laboratory Program Director for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization's Neutral Particle Beam Program at Los Alamos. The program's milestones included successfully flying the Beam Experiments Aboard Rocket (BEAR) with the first neutral particle beam in space, as well as the construction of the $21 million Ground Test Accelerator Facility. Before 1985, Burick worked in positions managing and conducting experiments in laser photochemistry and isotope separation.
Before arriving at Los Alamos, Burick had also worked as a member of Rocketdyne's design team for the space shuttle's main engine power head and for Martin-Marietta where he studied supersonic combustion processes.
Burick has a Ph.D. and a masters degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University. He conducted his undergraduate work at Colorado State University.
Burick is married to Kay and has three grown children.
The hiring processes for the remaining Deputy positions are nearing completion and further announcements will be made soon.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and Washington Group International for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.