Image: The lab’s 2021 fellows are: Elizabeth Hunke and Baolian Cheng, top row, and David A. Smith and Blas Uberuaga, bottom row.
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Photo credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, NM, September 30, 2021 – Four researchers have been named Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellows 2021: Baolian Cheng, Elizabeth Hunke, David A. Smith, and Blas Uberuaga.
“Being a fellow in the laboratory means taking a leadership role in our workplace and the scientific community at large,” said Thom Mason, laboratory director. “It is an honor for me to recognize these four scholarship holders and to thank them for their exceptional contributions and achievements.”
About the fellows
Baolian Cheng of the Plasma Theory and Applications Group has made sustained high-level contributions to national security and the laboratory’s mission over the past 25 years. Their discoveries have profoundly influenced the methodology for gun certification. During her career, Dr. Cheng made critical contributions to hydrodynamic instabilities and blending, pit life studies, primary certification metrics, primary boost metrics, and thermonuclear ignition metrics for inertial confinement fusion. In addition, she is a global expert in boost and ignition metrics and is known for her strong theoretical and fundamental developments.
Elizabeth Hunke of the laboratory’s Fluid Dynamics and Solid Mechanics Group is internationally recognized as the world’s leading sea ice modeler. Dr. Hunke heads the CICE Consortium, an international collaboration of sea ice modellers, and is a senior member of the laboratory’s climate modeling team, which contributes cutting-edge research and development for the Department of Energy’s Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) project. She has been a key force in looking after two generations of climate team members. She also serves as program manager for the Earth and Environmental Systems Science division in the DOE’s Office of Science, a $ 30 million portfolio of experimental and modeling research.
David A. Smith of the Space and Remote Sensing Group made pioneering contributions to the fundamental understanding of natural and man-made radio frequency signatures. He directed the translation and implementation of these discoveries into a series of satellite electromagnetic pulse sensors (EMP) for the US nuclear detonation detection system. He is also a highly effective leader of complex and elaborate space systems. His fundamental work in lightning physics includes the discovery of a new class of lightning. He developed advanced EMP signature classification techniques that enabled the automated separation of nuclear detonation signatures from lightning and other natural and man-made signatures.
Blas Uberuaga of the Materials Science in Radiation and Dynamics Extremes Group has contributed to atomistic modeling of radiation effects in materials for more than 20 years, where he conducted pioneering research on complex oxides and nanomaterials. He is the director of DOE’s Fundamental Understanding of Transport Under Reactor Extremes (FUTURE), which studies the extreme conditions of radiation and corrosion affecting materials in nuclear reactors. His scientific work on understanding these effects continues to show the expertise of Los Alamos. In addition, he has demonstrated exceptional leadership skills in mentoring 27 postdoctoral researchers in the laboratory and six PhD students.
About the laboratory fellows
A Los Alamos Fellow Appointment is an award for excellence in science and / or engineering that recognizes the full range of laboratory performance from basic research to applied missions. The nominations are evaluated based on three criteria:
· Sustainable, high-level performance and / or leadership in the advancement of science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) or its application.
· One or more STEM discoveries, inventions, or breakthrough applications of STEM that have made significant advances in a subject area and gained wide acceptance and recognition.
· To have become a recognized authority in a field or a discipline based on their expertise, as evidenced by quotations, awards, grants in renowned societies and / or commitment at national / international level.
Above Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research facility engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is directed by Triad, a civil service-focused national security science organization that is equally owned by its three founding members: the Battelle Memorial Institute (Battelle), the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS), and the Regents of the University of California (UC) for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by maintaining the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear facility, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.
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