Chemistry and Materials Science Strategic Plan

Technical Report · Wed Apr 21 00:00:00 EDT 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/15009835· OSTI ID:15009835

Rhodie, K B; Mailhiot, C; Eaglesham, D; Hartmann-Siantar, C L; Turpin, L S; Allen, P G

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's mission is as clear today as it was in 1952 when the Laboratory was founded--to ensure our country's national security and the safety and reliability of its nuclear deterrent. As a laboratory pursuing applied science in the national interest, we strive to accomplish our mission through excellence in science and technology. We do this while developing and implementing sound and robust business practices in an environment that emphasizes security and ensures our safety and the safety of the community around us. Our mission as a directorate derives directly from the Laboratory's charter. When I accepted the assignment of Associate Director for Chemistry and Materials Science (CMS), I talked to you about the need for strategic balance and excellence in all our endeavors. We also discussed how to take the directorate to the next level. The long-range CMS strategic plan presented here was developed with this purpose in mind. It also aligns with the Lab's institutional long-range science and technology plan and its 10-year facilities and infrastructure site plan. The plan is aimed at ensuring that we fulfill our directorate's two governing principles: (1) delivering on our commitments to Laboratory programs and sponsors, and (2) anticipating change and capitalizing on opportunities through innovation in science and technology. This will require us to attain a new level of creativity, agility, and flexibility as we move forward. Moreover, a new level of engagement in partnerships with other directorates across the Laboratory as well as with universities and other national labs will also be required. The group of managers and staff that I chartered to build a strategic plan identified four organizing themes that define our directorate's work and unite our staff with a set of common goals. The plan presented here explains how we will proceed in each of these four theme areas: (1) Materials properties and performance under extreme conditions--Fundamental investigations of the properties and performance of states of matter under extreme dynamic, environmental, and nanoscale conditions, with an emphasis on materials of interest to Laboratory programs and mission needs. (2) Chemistry under extreme conditions and chemical engineering to support national security programs--Insights into the chemical reactions of energetic materials in the nuclear stockpile through models of molecular response to extreme conditions of temperature and pressure, advancing a new technique for processing energetic materials by using sol-gel chemistry, providing materials for NIF optics, and furthering developments to enhance other high-power lasers. (3) Science supporting national objectives at the intersection of chemistry, materials science, and biology--Multidisciplinary research for developing new technologies to combat chemical and biological terrorism, to monitor changes in the nation's nuclear stockpile, and to enable the development and application of new physical-science-based methodologies and tools for fundamental biology studies and human health applications. (4) Applied nuclear science for human health and national security: Nuclear science research that is used to develop new methods and technologies for detecting and attributing nuclear materials, assisting Laboratory programs that require nuclear and radiochemical expertise in carrying out their missions, discovering new elements in the periodic table, and finding ways of detecting and understanding cellular response to radiation.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Department of Energy (US)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 15009835
• Report Number(s): UCRL-TR-203305; TRN: US200430%%1356
• Resource Relation: Other Information: PBD: 21 Apr 2004
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
BIOLOGY
BUSINESS
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
FLEXIBILITY
LASERS
MONITORS
NATIONAL SECURITY
OPTICS
RELIABILITY
SAFETY
SECURITY
STOCKPILES