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Management Team

Ed Moses

Principal Associate Director
NIF & Photon Science

Dr. Edward Moses has 18 years of experience developing Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration laser systems and 30 years of experience developing and managing complex laser systems and high-technology projects. As associate director for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) Program from 2005 to 2007 and now as principal associate director for the NIF & Photon Science Directorate, he is responsible for completing construction and bringing into full operation the world's largest optical instrument for achieving ignition in the laboratory and for studying inertial fusion energy.

Mary Louise Spaeth

Chief Technologist
NIF & Photon Science

Mary Spaeth earned her M.S. degree in nuclear physics at Wayne State University in 1962. She began her career as a physicist at Hughes Aircraft Company, where she developed the first brassboard laser range finder and invented tunable dye lasers. From 1975 to 1990, she was physicist, manager/program leader of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation (AVLIS) program in charge of laser system development and systems engineering.

Ralph Patterson

Program Director
NIF Projects

Ralph Patterson was appointed acting project manager for NIF in June 2005. He is currently program director for NIF Projects, responsible for ensuring that the NIF project is completed while achieving all schedule, budget and performance goals. Mr. Patterson received his B.S. in nuclear engineering from Purdue University in 1976 and an M.S. in systems management from Florida Institute of Technology in 1978. He served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1976 to 1980.

John Lindl

Chief Scientist
NIF & Photon Science

Dr. John Lindl is chief scientist for the NIF & Photon Science Directorate. In this capacity, Dr. Lindl works with the full range of major participants in the National Nuclear Security Administration Stockpile Stewardship Program to develop a national plan for ignition on NIF. Dr. Lindl received his B.S. in engineering physics from Cornell University in 1968 and his Ph.D. in astrophysics from Princeton in 1972.

Jeff Wisoff

Principal Deputy
Principal Associate Director
NIF & Photon Science


Dr. Peter J. (Jeff) K. Wisoff is responsible for managing the directorate operations team, which provides facility, information technology, environment, safety and health, security, and administrative services to the directorate.

Dr. Wisoff came to LLNL and NIF in the fall of 2001 as a deputy associate project manager for systems engineering. In 2003, he became the associate project manager for small optical systems on NIF which included responsibility for the front end of the laser and laser diagnostics.

Jeffrey Atherton

Deputy Principal
Associate Director
Science & Technology

Program Director
Target Experimental Systems

Dr. Jeffrey Atherton received his Ph.D. degree in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985. Dr. Atherton began his career at LLNL's Laser Directorate as a system manager for the Beamlet Pockels cell from 1991 through 1994. He was associate project leader for the NIF optics group from 1993 to 1999. The following year, he became associate project manager for laser equipment and optics production.

Brian MacGowan

Program Director
ICF & HED Science

Dr. Brian MacGowan is program director of the Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) and High Energy Density (HED) Science Program. He leads the teams of target and laser physicists who are responsible for maintaining the technical basis for operation of NIF and designing, planning and executing the experiment campaigns leading to ignition and use of NIF for HED science. Dr. MacGowan earned his Ph.D. from Imperial College, University of London, in 1982 in the subject area of plasma physics.

C.P.J. Barty

Chief Technology Officer for the National Ignition Facility and Photon Science

Dr. C.P.J. Barty was elected a Fellow of the Optical Society of America for his pioneering work related to development of intense short-pulse lasers and X-ray applications. His academic background includes Ph.D and M.S. degrees in applied physics from Stanford University and bachelor degrees with honors in chemistry, physics, and chemical engineering from North Carolina State University. During his career, he has founded both the biennial international meeting on ultrafast optics and the International Conference on Ultrahigh Intensity Lasers.

Regina Bonanno

Program Director
for Photon Science
and Applications

Dr. Regina Bonanno joined LLNL as a laser physicist in 1986 and led a number of solid-state laser development projects in the Atomic Vapor Laser Isotope Separation (AVLIS) program. From 1990 to 1992 she was group leader and lead experimenter for AVLIS dye laser systems. In 1992, she took a position as optics manager with CVI Optics Corp. in Livermore, CA. She returned to LLNL in 1994 as AVLIS laser operations manager and also served as project manager for the integrated enrichment demonstrations from 1997 to 1999.

Mike Dunne

Director for Laser Fusion Energy

Professor Mike Dunne joined LLNL in 2010 as director for Laser Fusion Energy. This role includes leadership of the LIFE (Laser Inertial Fusion Energy) project, which is designed to build from NIF ignition to deliver electrical power to the nation at the gigawatt plant scale. Professor Dunne was previously the leader of the European laser fusion program, HiPER, and Director of the UK's Central Laser Facility. He spent 10 years at AWE Aldermaston and is a visiting professor at Imperial College London, where he received his Ph.D. in plasma physics.

Christopher Keane

Director of the NIF
User Office

Dr. Christopher J. Keane is Director of the NIF User Office. He received B.S. degrees in physics and engineering from the University of Rochester and his M.A. and Ph.D in plasma physics from Princeton University. Following this, Dr. Keane joined LLNL's Inertial Confinement Fusion Program. In 1996, he joined DOE as Associate Director of the Office of Inertial Fusion, then in 2000, was named Director of the Division of Secondaries and Inertial Fusion within NNSA. He was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2004, concurrent with his selection as the NNSA Assistant Deputy Administrator for Inertial Fusion and the NIF Project. Dr. Keane rejoined LLNL in 2007.

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