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Lawrence Garcia— Descendant of the masters
A martial arts descendant of Bruce Lee, Lawrence Garcia remains soft-spoken and humble as he leads training classes in Jeet Kune Do, “the way of the intercepting fist.” - 12/12/16
Ronnie Bell—Soulful vocals for modern times
Genre-mixing singer Ronnie Bell of the Nuclear Process Infrastructure Group (NPI-2) takes personal joy in reaching as many people as possible. - 11/15/16
Bill Purtymun—Snow Angel
Whether he’s helping a hiker with altitude sickness or assisting with an airlift for an injured skier on Pajarito Mountain, EMT Bill Purtymun always finds “there’s gratification in working hard at work worth doing.” - 10/18/16
Jim Stein—Photo finish
In the “photographer’s paradise” around Los Alamos, Jim Stein finds drama in the landscape. - 9/20/16
Laura McClellan—Lending a helping hammer
From shoring up floors to building a brand-new home in southern Africa, Laura McClellan spends much of her free time helping people in extreme poverty. - 8/23/16
Melissa Montoya—Helping students reach for the future
Melissa Montoya mixes adobe bricks and high-tech fun to show kids the joys of math and science - 7/26/16
Brad Lounsbury—Working on the railroad
“A labor of love” is how James “Brad” Lounsbury describes restoring cars on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad. - 6/28/16
Erica Larson Baron—Fleet feet
A top trail-running racer nationally, Erica Erica Baron of Information Systems and Modeling (A-1) often figures out work problems on her daily training runs at the Laboratory. - 5/31/16
Gene Ortega—The eyes have it
Painting with a style that mixes chaos and refinement, Gene Ortega has found a way to blend his technical and artistic sides. - 5/4/16
Deirdre Monroe—If you map it, they will come
During her spare time, Lab engineer and endurance rider Deirdre Monroe helped make Santa Fe's Caja del Rio plateau more accessible for hikers, rock climbers, mountain bikers and equestrian trail riders. - 11/2/15
Alina Deshpande—Dances of India
Lab scientist Alina Deshpande teaches classical Indian dance and writes, produces, directs and choreographs an annual benefit performance in Los Alamos. - 9/29/15
James Hunter—Discovering Oz
James Hunter helped discover a new section of Carlsbad Caverns National Park's famous Lechuguilla Cave. - 9/15/15
John Bacik—Enzyme detective
Molecular biology postdoc John Bacik studies enzymes that are key to biofuel production. - 8/25/15
Leon Lopez—Split-second decisions
When not at work, Leon Lopez referees high school and college basketball games. - 8/11/15
Hai Ah Nam-The power of yes
Hai Ah Nam is passionate about saying yes to opportunities, collaborations and new adventures, regardless of which profession one is in. - 7/28/15
Michelle Ferran—Painting from the heart
The Lab’s Michelle Ferran used to stack her vibrant watercolor paintings under her bed. But when she finally gained enough confidence to participate in the Española Valley Arts Festival’s poster contest in 2001, one of her paintings immediately won first prize. - 6/30/15
Max Schulze—Extreme unicycling
The unicycle that Los Alamos student intern Max Schulze and his brother had given their dad for Father’s Day in 2005 did not get much use until Schulze tried it and got hooked. Today, he is a three-time unicycling world champion. - 6/9/15
Denise Neudecker—A different kind of culture shock
Working with the Laboratory’s nuclear experimentalists provides the Theoretical Division’s Denise Neudecker with insights into their research, and she also looks to the experimentalists to shed light on previous approaches to nuclear experiments. - 5/18/15
Jason Halladay—Ascending one of the world's highest active volcanoes
At 1:00 a.m. on a June 2014 trip, the Network and Infrastructure Engineering Division’s Jason Halladay and four of his rock climbing and mountaineering friends, including Aron Ralston of “127 hours” fame, step from a rental van into the darkness and howling winds of a barren parking lot 15,092 ft high in South America's Andes mountain range. - 5/4/15
Alessandro Cattaneo—One thing leads to another
The first time the Laboratory’s post-doctoral mechanical engineer Alessandro Cattaneo arrived in the United States from his native Italy, he was a regular tourist taking a road trip through the American West with three Italian friends. - 4/12/15
Sim Balkey—On the way up
The “kid who has the goods” has been quite busy lately. Just ahead of the MusicRow review he celebrated the release of his new CD, Messin’ Around, with a CD release party in Albuquerque on March 13, and before then he was in the national limelight performing in Nashville on February 24. - 4/6/15
Inspiring Women: Dana Dattelbaum
Dana Dattelbaum’s experiments in shock sensitivity and dynamics of explosives support simulations of nuclear weapons performance and enhance the safety of the nation’s nuclear stockpile. - 4/1/15
Inspiring Women: Jenna Casias
Working with organizations to bring together other women at the Lab in construction, maintenance and project management so there’s not only a support system for those already doing the work, but there’s outreach as well. - 3/26/15
Denise Thronas—Balancing family, pueblo life and a career
Denise Thronas lives in Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo (formerly San Juan) and during her morning drive to Los Alamos often reflects on how the women in her family have balanced their family and community life with the ability to seek varying levels of education and earn a living. - 3/23/15
Faces of Science: Harshini Mukundan
Mukundan's ultimate goal is to develop better diagnostics for infectious disease, especially ones that have developed resistance to antibiotics, and to develop a global awareness for increasing drug-resistance. - 3/20/15
Inspiring Women: Becky Olinger
Olinger considers explosives work “the coolest thing ever,” but she loves to share the many career options in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields with rural middle- and high school students. - 3/20/15
Inspiring Women: Elizabeth Miller
Elizabeth Miller, with Earth and Environmental Sciences, helps the Lab better understand the history of the area’s earthquakes and its potential seismic future. - 3/12/15
Janice Lovato—A gift for imagination
The Associate Directorate for Nuclear and High Hazard Operations’ Janice Lovato has turned her love for nature-watching and story-telling into writing a children’s book called Germaine the Beetle. - 3/10/15
Faces of Science: Joel Rowland
Joel Rowland is fascinated with the natural world—that water, wind and sediment can be organized into spectacular patterns. Today, this passion drives him to study how climate change affects the shape and organization of landscapes dominated by permafrost. - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: Tim Germann
Says Tim Germann, “It’s reassuring when nature behaves as you expect it to, but even more exciting when it surprises you, which is often the case in science.” Such surprises are common for Tim, who plays a role in the future designs of computers and software. - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: Richard Sayre
Richard Sayre cites his father as his greatest influence. “He and I built cars and experimented with solar cells ... with great fun and passion.” Richard works on biofuel production systems and global food-security challenges. - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: Karissa Sanbonmatsu
For Karissa Sanbonmatsu, there is nothing more exciting than the moment of discovery, when only the discoverer has the answer to a special secret. One such secret Karissa is unraveling today is how DNA is reprogrammed during life. - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: Michelle Espy
While taking physics in high school, Michelle Espy realized that scientific methods could be used to predict and understand things. Michelle has applied this knowledge to develop sensitive magnetic sensors that measure brain function and detect liquid bombs. - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: Nate McDowell
Nate McDowell has always been in awe of plants and their tenacity for survival. Today, Nate applies his extensive background in biochemistry and physiology to study where, when, and how vegetation dies during droughts caused by climate change. - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: Rashi Iyer
Iyer has had a fervent passion for protecting the environment and limiting our impact on all living organisms since a child. Iyer always has been a strong advocate for the role of science and technology in the advancement of women globally. - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: Roger Wiens
As a kid, Roger Wiens built model rockets and even a telescope. Today, Wiens fuels his passion for space by contributing to technology that is helping to explore Mars. - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: Susan Hanson
Designing less expensive and sustainable catalysts may revolutionize industry - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: Amy Bauer
Amy Bauer switched careers from mathematics and finance to follow her passion and since has applied her skills to discovering novel therapeutics for cancer, determining the effects of tuberculosis infection on AIDS, and issues related to national security. - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: Amy Clarke
Amy Clarke finds it ironic that scientists can be perceived as overly practical, when it is creativity that drives the design of advanced materials. Today, Amy harnesses such ingenuity to develop materials important to applications in energy, defense and industry. - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: Tom Vestrand
Tom Vestrand has always been interested in how the universe began, how it will end, and the nature of its early, violent history. At Los Alamos, he has worked on developing fully autonomous “thinking telescopes” that catch gamma-ray bursts—the biggest explosions since the Big Bang. - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: Sara Del Valle
Sara Del Valle grew up watching her parents—who were missionaries—tend to people suffering from infectious disease. These experiences, coupled with her passion for mathematics, led Sara to develop computer models to study communicable illnesses. - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: Juan Duque
Juan Duque’s passion for research stems from his fascination with building new things and learning how they work. His research in surface chemistry continues to feed this passion because, as Juan sees it, there are always new questions to answer. - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: José Olivares
José Olivares has always enjoyed figuring out how things work. At an early age, he tore an old television apart, made paper airplanes, and read Scientific American. Today, he leads the Bioscience Division and works on programs developing algae as a source of biofuel for energy and transportation. - 3/4/15
Faces of Science: John Gordon
John Gordon remembers one high-school science class in which they discussed the chemistry of sugars. Today, he's interested in the use of carbohydrates not as a form of nutrition but as renewable and sustainable sources of hydrocarbon fuels. - 3/4/15
Glen Wurden—What you can see from your driveway
The Physics Division’s Glen Wurden marvels at celestial objects 300 trillion kilometers (180 million trillion—or 180 quintillion—miles) from his house. - 2/18/15
Bryant Roybal—Champion chile
The Associate Directorate for Project Management’s Bryant Roybal has been a chile competition contestant ever since entering the Hot Chili Days, Cool Mountain Nights Cookoff in Red River in 2011 and immediately taking first prize. - 2/18/15
Elena Giorgi—Murder mysteries with a twist of science
Chimeras is Giorgi’s first murder mystery, followed by Mosaics, and Gene Cards, a futuristic thriller that imagines a world without genetic privacy. - 2/18/15
Amy Ross—Helping kids soar high
The Materials Science and Technology Division’s Amy Ross is a volunteer pilot and coordinator for the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Young Eagles Program. - 1/9/15
Phil & Monica Noll—Photography worthy of the Smithsonian
One of Phil Noll’s photos received the honor of being shown at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. - 12/1/14
Christina Martos Hilton—The shared experience of music
The Intelligence Analysis and Technology Division's Christina Martos Hilton studied opera with world-renowned opera singer Placido Domingo. - 11/5/14
A.J. Herrera—Coaching soccer as a family affair
Angelo (A.J.) Herrera, by day a financial analyst in the Laboratory's Chief Financial Officer Division, was part of the U.S. Youth National Soccer Team from 1996 to 2000, including the Youth Olympics in Moscow, and today coaches soccer in his spare time. - 10/22/14
Sheila Armstrong—Helping hospice patients and their loved ones say good-bye
Sheila Armstrong of the X Theoretical Design Division began her Laboratory career in 1972 but in the 1990s took a break and trained to become a hospice volunteer. - 10/7/14
Darleen Vigil—Growing Chimayó chile
As soon as Darleen Vigil comes home from a hard day’s work as a vendor liaison specialist in the Laboratory’s Network and Infrastructure Engineering Division, she heads into her garden to tend to her vegetables. - 9/23/14
Ron Barber—The hobby that got out of hand
Ron Barber, a mechanical engineer in the Laboratory’s Accelerator Operations and Technology Division, combines his love of nature and open spaces with a personal interest in researching the astronomical knowledge of long-ago civilizations that once inhabited the American Southwest. - 9/9/14
Michael Torrez—Tracing family lineages to colonial New Mexico
Michael Torrez, by day a research technologist in the Laboratory's Materials Physics and Applications Division, spends much of his free time researching New Mexico's family histories. - 8/26/14
Jonathan Engle—Saving lives with nuclear energy
Jonathan (Jon) Engle, Reines Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow at the Laboratory, is helping lay the scientific groundwork for a new and improved cancer treatment that uses the energy produced by radioactive isotopes. - 8/14/14
Kristen Honig—The evolution of a wildfire photographer
Honig realized that she wanted to document the beauty and destructiveness of wildfires and the sacrifices, challenges and camaraderie of the men and women protecting communities in the path of scorching blazes. - 6/24/14
José Valdez—Cherishing classic cars
Find José Valdez in his garage, intensely focused on his hobby of refurbishing classic cars, preferably from the 1930s to early 1960s. - 6/24/14
Monika Bittman—The vitality of artistic creation
Monika Bittman has wanted to be an artist ever since she was a little girl in Prague, Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic. Today Bittman applies her creative eye and attention to detail in her work as a web designer at the Laboratory. - 6/2/14
Dave Keller—Sleepless in Los Alamos
From the end of March into early May, Keller and the Laboratory’s other wildlife biologists monitor the Mexican Spotted Owl’s population size and locations and record noteworthy changes. - 6/2/14
Crystal J. Rodarte-Romero—Engineering safer structures
Los Alamos bridge engineer, Rodarte-Romero is a proud steward of the historic bridge and is honored to extend its life with design modifications and forthcoming modeling, including examining how the structure can withstand seismic shifts. - 3/31/14
Raeanna Sharp-Geiger—Creating a cleaner, greener environment
Sharp-Geiger helps identify, evaluate and control chemical, physical, biological, radiological and environmental hazards. - 3/28/14
Katharine Page—Atomic-level insights for better materials
Page's research supports materials' advances that could have wide-ranging impact, investigating, manipulating and manufacturing nano-particles. - 3/26/14
Jerri McTaggart—Creating opportunities
She is a scientist at the Los Alamos office in Carlsbad and helps small-quantity transuranic waste generators identify and solve problems. - 3/26/14
Barbara Tenorio-Grimes—Providing science opportunities to minorities
A strong supporter of the benefits of education in science, math and engineering, she led development of the Lab’s educational outreach programs for K-12 students and teachers. - 3/24/14
Jacqueline Mirabal-Martinez—Boosting electrical safety performance
The first woman to chair the Lab’s Electrical Safety Committee, she led her division to the highest level of excellence in electrical safety performance, exceeding the performance of 40 other divisions. - 3/22/14
Elizabeth Hunke—Piloting polar warning of climate change
Hunke develops advanced ocean and ice models for evaluating the role of ocean and ice in climate change and projecting the impact of such change globally. - 3/20/14
Kathy Prestridge—Physics' solutions for energy independence
She leads a team whose high-resolution experiments in fluid dynamics have been applied to weapon design, astrophysics and inertial confinement fusion (ICF)—the power of the sun. - 3/19/14
Antonya Sanders—Promoting nanoscience integration through outreach
Bringing together university faculty, students, researchers and other Laboratory scientists to explore nanoscale science. - 3/17/14
Cheryl Kuske—Microbiology expertise aids in biothreat detection
She is an environmental microbiologist who built a world-renowned Los Alamos research program targeting complex microbial communities in the environment. - 3/14/14
Elaine Santantonio—Creating an efficient cyber workplace
She improved communication and increased efficiency by helping put mobile devices into the hands of Lab employees. - 3/11/14
Dianne Williams Wilburn—Creating her own destiny
Having monitored environmental compliance for New Mexico State and analyzed water chemistry for a nuclear power plant in Virginia, Wilburn is well versed in environmental health and radiation safety. - 3/11/14
Becky Chamberlin—Overcoming gender bias in science
A nuclear forensics chemist and nonproliferation expert, Chamberlin is helping bring forward a more comprehensive effort on the science of detecting nuclear weapons development. - 3/11/14
Amy Bauer—Problem-solving fuels passion
She works on a broad range of nuclear counterterrorism projects, including post-detonation nuclear forensics. - 3/11/14
Marianne Francois—Scientific modeling of materials and climate
Her ability to model the complexity of nuclear weapons systems through advanced numerical methods play an important role in supporting nonproliferation efforts. - 3/11/14
Alina Deshpande—Strengthening the fight against pandemics
She is dedicated to strengthening the world’s fight against infectious diseases by providing new tools for early detection and mitigation of disease outbreaks. - 3/10/14
Wendee Brunish—So that others may live
At work, this Lab astrophysicist spends long hours searching the planet for concealed weapons of mass destruction. - 3/10/14
Nanoscientist Ayesha Arefin has heart
Student researcher helps construct bioethical artificial human organs and develop methods to improve toxicology and disease research. - 8/27/13
Stone's code reveals Earth’s processes
The returning student researches carbon sequestration to determine the best methods to capture the greenhouse gas that increases global warming. - 8/27/13
Physicist Zoe Martin's fusion quest: a stellar future
From revealing radiation hydrodynamics to creating energy, physics student pursues science’s boundaries. - 8/27/13
Military students access top R&D
Cadets and midshipmen spend summer expanding their scientific knowledge at world-class Los Alamos facilities - 8/27/13
Collaboration inspires nuclear engineering student Alexis Kaplan
Researcher designs a system that improves nuclear energy security - 8/27/13
Tarryn Miller: Fueling biofuel’s promise
Student intern driven to develop cyanobacteria as viable carbon-neutral energy source. - 8/27/13
Hazmat work opens up career options for Adam Sayre, agricultural economist
Agricultural economics undergraduate works behind the scenes to ensure quality work on gloveboxes used for hazardous materials. - 8/3/12
Nuclear energy field fascinates David Parkinson, chemical engineer
Chemical engineer undergraduate designs and tests a separator used in processing plutonium. - 8/3/12
Ideal balance of work, play makes outdoor enthusiast's James Miller life enviable
Nuclear engineer graduate research assistant gets valuable experience while taking advantage of local outdoor recreational activities. - 8/2/12
Inspiration from world-class scientists leads Patricia Langan to nanoscience
Graduate research assistant discovered her passion while interning as an undergraduate student in the Bioscience Division. - 8/1/12
Science theory and practical applications both avenues at the Lab for Daniela Moody, Postdoc
"I love working with like-minded people, and the eclectic combination of educational and cultural backgrounds of everyone on my team truly fosters scientific growth." - 7/31/12
Working to keep us safe: Sara Brambilla, Postdoc creates threat reduction tools
Chemical engineer postdoc experiences a foreign culture while working on resources that respond to weapons of mass destruction and natural threats. - 7/18/12
Hands-on environmental stewardship deepens Erica Garcia, civil engineer, experience
Civil engineer undergraduate spends time in the field sampling water quality for the Lab. - 7/17/12
Why Los Alamos?
Real secrets related to Los Alamos have as much to do with quality of life as prosperity and stability. - 4/3/12
World class recreation, bold science
Los Alamos employees enjoy access to a network of 100+ miles of high-quality trails, much of it within walking distance from key Lab facilities or from residents’ front doors. - 4/3/12
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Operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC for the U.S.
Department of Energy's NNSA
© Copyright 2014-15 LANS, LLC