Supporting Science in the 21^st Century

The Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) program is an essential component in the National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) science and technology investment strategy to sustain world-class science and engineering within the national laboratories. By sustaining the scientific and technical vitality of the national laboratories, LDRD enhances their ability to address future U.S. Department of Energy and NNSA missions, both domestically and abroad. LDRD is a scientific success story, where projects garner national recognition for excellence though prestigious awards, publications, cited peer-reviewed journals, and patents granted. The LDRD program is also a powerful means to attract and retain top researchers from around the world, foster collaborations with other prominent scientific and technological institutions, and to leverage some of the world’s most technologically advanced assets.This enables the LDRD program to invest in high-risk and potentially high-payoff research that creates innovative technical solutions for some of our nation’s most difficult challenges.

LDRD at the NNSA Laboratories

Federal Context
DOE Order 413.2B

LDRD Impacts on the Scientific Community

America is currently facing energy, security and environmental challenges that, in their scope and complexity, are perhaps unparalleled in the nation’s history. In that context, the national laboratories are being called on to provide the scientific breakthroughs that will be needed to develop long-term solutions. At the national laboratories, those breakthroughs are often recognized as the result of early LDRD investment. With support from the LDRD program, laboratory researchers are pursuing high-risk, big-payoff ideas that win the attention of the broader scientific community; this is most strongly evidenced by the many honors and awards LDRD researchers garner annually.

Livermore researchers Whitley and Banks win PECASE

Amy Clarke and Ivan Vitev Selected to Receive 2012 DOE Early Career Awards

Jaqueline Kiplinger Selected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

R&D Magazine's annual R&D 100 Awards, widely recognized as the "Oscars of Innovation," identify and celebrate the top high technology products of the year. Sophisticated testing equipment, innovative new materials, chemistry breakthroughs, biomedical products, consumer items, high-energy physics: the R&D 100 Awards spans industry, academia, and government-sponsored research.

LDRD 2012 R&D 100 Awards

Plastic Scintillators for Neutron and Gamma Ray Detection

Solar Glitter

Sequedex Speed Reads DNA Using Evolutionary Theory

Investing in the Future of Science, Technology
and Engineering

The LDRD program generates some of the most far-reaching science and technology at the national laboratories, thereby expanding the national and international science and technology knowledge base. That capability is created by the national laboratories' most innovative scientists and engineers, which is why it is essential to invest not only in new ideas but also in the people that create those ideas. In an increasingly competitive job market, the national laboratories must foster an environment that attracts the best talent so that it may be applied solving national security problems. The LDRD program remains an important vehicle for recruiting the best and brightest researchers to the national laboratories, where they become innovators and scientific leaders.

Rising Stars: LDRD Investment in Early Career Research Pays Off

Sandia's Greg Nielson Selected as One of "Top Ten"

Chih-Chun Chien Receives the J. Robert Oppenheimer Postdoctoral Fellowship

Vivien Zapf receives Lee Osheroff Richards prize for her work on Bose-Einstein condensation in quantum magnets

Early Career Research Highlights

Sandia Researcher Chosen as One of Top Ten
Understanding Crystal Growth
A Detector for a Rare Phenomenon
Creating Novel Environments for Living Cells
Computational Potency to Model Engineering Solutions
Building California’s Climate Record