Chief Technology Officer, Vice President of Science and Technology
Dr. J. Stephen (Steve) Rottler is Chief Technology Officer and Vice President, Science and Technology, at Sandia National Laboratories, which is located in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Livermore, California. Dr. Rottler is the executive responsible for leadership and management of corporate research and development and capabilities stewardship at Sandia National Laboratories. He is also responsible for leadership of technology transfer and strategic research relationships with universities, industry, and the State of New Mexico.
In his previous position as Chief Engineer for Nuclear Weapons and Vice President, Weapon Engineering and Product Realization, Dr. Rottler was the Central Technical Authority for nuclear weapons and led all nuclear weapon engineering and production activities at Sandia. Prior to that position, Dr. Rottler served in a number of senior leadership positions at the Laboratories. He has been responsible for nuclear warhead system engineering and integration, development of high performance electronic systems, and system analyses and assessments for Sandia and National Nuclear Security Administration senior management. He also managed organizations and programs responsible for the research, development, and application of advanced computational and experimental techniques in the engineering sciences. As a member of technical staff at Sandia, Dr. Rottler was part of a research team that developed multidimensional radiation-hydrodynamics simulation codes for nuclear weapon applications, and he led projects that supported the development of advanced nuclear and conventional weapon concepts.
Dr. Rottler is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and is a member of the Institute’s Board of Directors and a Past Chair of the Institute’s Technical Committee on Management. He is a recipient of the Department of the Air Force Award for Exemplary Civilian Service. Dr. Rottler is a Fellow of Seminar XXI at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently serving or has served on the Board of Directors of the United Kingdom Atomic Weapons Establishment, New Mexico Humanities Council, the Albuquerque Explora Science Museum, and Technology Ventures Corporation. He is a member of the external advisory board for the Texas A&M University Dwight Look College of Engineering. He has led or served on independent review panels for the U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs Office and the United Kingdom Atomic Weapons Establishment.
Dr. Rottler received his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Nuclear Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1980, 1982, and 1984, respectively. He has published papers, reports, and conference presentations on the development and application of computational radiation-hydrodynamics codes.
Dr. Rottler and his wife have two children and reside in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In his spare time, he finds relaxation through long-distance running and researching his family’s history, and he is an avid reader of U.S. and English history.
- Download biography (PDF)