Partnering with our neighbors through science education and charitable giving
As a valued and involved member of neighboring communities, the Laboratory continually strives to promote science education in the Tri-Valley, the Bay Area, and the Central Valley. Summer brings to Livermore many students and teachers for workshops and interns to build their skills guided by Laboratory mentors. This year, LLNL staff and LLNS donated more than $3.4 million to local nonprofits, and hundreds of employees donated their time to local service agencies.
Summer Schooling at LLNL
STEM activities brought many visitors to the Laboratory during the summer months. The long-running Teacher Research Academy welcomed educators for sessions such as AI in the Classroom, Physics with Phones, Bioengineering, Climate & Fusion, and Computing. Science education for high school students included three standout programs. STEM with Phones was a week-long workshop to enhance students’ critical thinking. Through hands-on use of the sensing and computing capabilities in their cell phones, the participants studied basic principles of physics and engineering. The three-day Manufacturing Workshop provided students the opportunity to explore the world of design and creation through 3D printing techniques, and a shop tour exposed the students to unique career opportunities in the field. The two-week-long Biotech Summer Experience provided students an immersive introduction to molecular biology and bioinformatics research as well as ample lab experience. The Laboratory also hosted its third annual Science Accelerating Girls’ Engagement (SAGE) camp. This year, the camp, which hosted 30 Northern California public high school students, was a residential experience offering a week packed with LLNL tours, career talks, job shadowing, professional growth workshops, and hands-on projects.
Each summer, the Laboratory welcomes hundreds of interns. As early career professionals in training, they collaborate with their mentors and participate in projects that develop their skills with expert guidance and support along the way. Interests and projects varied widely: experiments at the Jupiter Laser Facility, 3D printing of battery components, work on electrochemical reactors, preparation of marketing materials, and webpage development in areas ranging from nuclear security to human resources. In addition, a pipeline development initiative sponsored by DOE Office of Science enabled students from San José State University (SJSU) to participate in a 10-week internship at LLNL’s Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (CAMS). For their research project, the interns investigated reaction pathways to produce radioactive isotopes used in nuclear medicine. Prior to the summer experience, the students took part in an introductory nuclear science course at SJSU that included several preparatory tours of CAMS.
Welcome to the Laboratory
The Laboratory’s Discovery Center is open to visitors on weekdays from noon to 4 p.m. The recently renovated facility includes hands-on exhibits related to LLNL’s research programs, institutional history, and role in the community. Local elementary schools are invited to arrange for their fifth-grade students to visit the Discovery Center and enjoy an interactive Fun with Science performance. This year, nearly 2,000 local fifth graders participated. In FY 2024, the Science Education Program offered “Day at the Lab” tours to more than 750 students. LLNL also reintroduced a revamped tour program, offering three-hour tour experiences led by knowledgeable guides twice a month. These tours provide participants the opportunity to visit the Discovery Center, the Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory, the National Ignition Facility, and other facilities around the Laboratory.
LLNL also hosts “STEM Day at the Lab” twice a year, a daylong interactive event focused on STEM activities for fifth- to eighth-grade students from underserved or disadvantaged communities. The first post-COVID event in October 2023 brought more than 145 students from Bay Area schools to engage in hands-on demonstrations, workshops, and tours. More than 200 students from California’s Central Valley attended a second STEM Day at the Lab in April. In mid-March, the Laboratory hosted its seventh annual Women in Data Science (WiDS) conference, which highlighted the work and careers of LLNL and regional data-science professionals through technical talks, panel discussions, a poster session, and networking opportunities. In May, Dream Day brought 52 Girls Who Code club members from Livermore middle-schools to the Laboratory. LLNL volunteers provide mentorship at Girls Who Code clubs at regional schools.
STEM on the road
For more than three decades, Laboratory researchers have traveled to University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, for the STEM San Joaquin Conference (formerly, San Joaquin Expanding Your Horizons). The event in FY 2024 attracted nearly 400 sixth- to twelfth-grade students in October 2023. After plasma physicist Tammy Ma’s (see Workforce Recognition) inspirational keynote speech about her career journey in STEM, students attended workshops that provided hands-on science or math-related activities. Las Positas College hosted Science on Saturday in February, and the series traveled to Tracy, California, in March. Attracting more than 2,000 middle- and high-school students, the presentations in FY2024 featured fusion ignition, 3D printing, micro-bubbles, and carbon nanotubes. Las Positas College also hosted the annual Science and Engineering Seminar series, jointly sponsored by the College and LLNL. The lecture series provides a forum for Laboratory scientists and engineers to share groundbreaking research with the college’s scientific community of students, staff, and faculty. Topics included the origin and evolution of the solar system, biological mining of critical materials, software development, and detection with ground-penetrating radar.
Celebrating Fusion Ignition
LLNL’s historic fusion ignition breakthrough at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) was celebrated on September 29, 2024, at City Center Bishop Ranch in San Ramon, California, with an art installation on the exterior of the shopping, retail, and entertainment center. “Bringing Star Power to Earth” tells the story of LLNL’s achievement through nine 23-foot-tall banners. Attendees included LLNL Director Kimberly Budil, San Ramon Mayor Dave Hudson, Livermore Mayor John Marchand, Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert, Contra Costa County Supervisor Candace Andersen, Alex Meran Jr., president and CEO of Sunset Development Group and developer of Bishop Ranch, and NBC Bay Area meteorologist Rob Mayeda, the event’s emcee. The banners are part of the center’s Slate Art Program, launched in 2018. The fusion ignition installation is on display for 12 months.
Annual Gift Giving
In 2024, the 50th year of the Laboratory’s Helping Others More Effectively (HOME) campaign, employees and LLNS raised over $3.4 million. Employees pledged over $2.4 million, while LLNS matched $1.0 million and has allocated an additional $300,000 for matching employee gift giving year-round in 2025. Over the past 50 years, the campaign has raised more than $82 million to support community needs. This year’s donations will benefit more than 1,200 community nonprofit agencies selected by LLNL employees. In January 2025, LLNS announced the recipients of the 2024 Community Gift Program, with funds totaling $220,000. Many of the awards serve children in the Tri-Valley area as well as Contra Costa, San Francisco, and San Joaquin counties, and focus on literacy, STEM education, and cultural arts. Other recipients focus their charitable efforts toward individuals and families in need of assistance.
