Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Kim Budil Wraps up Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series

The College of Engineering Dean's Distinguished Speaker Series wrapped up on April 19 with the director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, or LLNL, Kim Budil visiting campus.  

The 13th director of the LLNL, Budil oversees an annual operating budget of about $2.9 billion and a workforce of about 8,300 employees – about 3,000 of whom have been hired over the last three years. 

She received her master's degree and Ph.D. in engineering/applied science from UC Davis and was honored with a Distinguished Engineering Alumni Medal in 2019. 

Budil sets the strategic vision for the LLNL and exercises broad delegated powers to ensure successful execution of programs and operations to advance science and technology for the nation and to maintain an outstanding and diverse workforce. The director leads the development and implementation of the LLNL's scientific vision, goals and objectives, and serves as the LLNL's highest-level liaison with DOE, NNSA, the LLNS Board of Governors, the University of California and other government, public and private organizations. 

Though all of the national laboratories have different functions, LLNL supports the safety, reliability and security of the nation's nuclear deterrent across a broad range of national security missions.  

"The way we do that is we take the leading edge of science and technology and bring them to bear on these important challenges in national security," Budil said.  

One way the lab does that is through supercomputing. When LLNL was founded in 1952, the very first thing the lab bought was a supercomputer.  

"That has been a part of our DNA since our founding," she explained.  

Today, LLNL houses nine of the 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world, and this year will take delivery of the first exo-scale computer for national security.  

Perhaps nothing is more representative of LLNL's 70th-anniversary slogan, "Making the Impossible, Possible for 70 Years," than Budil's overview of the National Ignition Facility, or NIF. A core part of ensuring a safe and reliable nuclear deterrent without returning to underground testing, the NIF provides a laboratory to test the understanding of diverse and extreme physical conditions – the same ones experienced by stars and required for fusion energy.

When the facility was being constructed though, seven of the key technologies did not exist.  

"In addition to being a facility that's changing the world, it is an engineering marvel," Budil said.  

One of Budil's points of emphasis was on the importance of engaging and sharing the work of scientists with the outside world. LLNL's Livermore Valley Open Campus has seen 84,000 visitors and 7,700 events since it opened in June of 2011. The campus is now home to numerous STEM outreach and collaboration efforts, including a renovated space as part of a partnership with the University of California system.  

And more is on the way, with Budil sharing that additional office and computing space is being built.  

"It's an incredibly exciting time at the lab."