The Early and Mid-Career Recognition (EMCR) Program recognizes scientific and technical accomplishments, leadership, and future promise demonstrated by LLNL scientists and engineers early in their careers — between four and 16 years since they received their most recent degree. Winners receive a cash award and institutional funding (approximately equivalent to 20 percent support for one year) to pursue research activities in their area of interest.
4–10 Year Cohort
Suzanne Ali
Suzanne Ali joined the Laboratory as a graduate student in 2010 while she was earning her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. She was then part of what was previously called the Lawrence Graduate Scholar Program, where she expanded her research experience in the Jupiter Laser Facility, working on diagnostic development for dynamic compression experiments. Since then, her research at LLNL has primarily focused on precision measurements of material properties under extreme conditions with involvement across inertial confinement fusion, high-energy-density science, and Global Security.
Now, as both a program lead and campaign lead, she derives inspiration from Livermore’s dually supportive and scientifically rigorous environment. She is honored to be an EMCR award recipient and looks forward to continuing to manage projects while advancing her technical work.
“The need to discover and understand is the biggest thing,” Ali said. “I derive a lot of value from just being able to dig in and investigate hard problems. The other big component is the knowledge that my work has real-world impact in both stockpile science and global security.”
Sara Harrison
Inspired by attending Livermore’s Family Day events during her early graduate studies, Sara Harrison began at LLNL as a graduate student intern and later joined as a postdoctoral researcher following her Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Stanford University. She was fascinated by the Lab’s expansive impact on national interests across defense, energy, computation and fundamental science at scale.
“The Laboratory is a remarkable place,” Harrison said. “The difficult tasks we can accomplish — thanks to the unique combination of our subject matter experts, capabilities, and facilities — motivates me every day.”
This motivation drives Harrison’s research interest in solid-state materials and devices. As the principal investigator for several projects that support the Defense Systems Program within the Global Security E Program, her efforts help support national and global security missions for the Department of Defense and other customers.
She is grateful for LLNL’s explorative and collaborative research culture and is excited to continue her efforts in national security now as an EMCR award recipient. “I am also indebted to my mentors for their support and encouragement to try things that extended beyond my comfort zone but ended up allowing me to grow in more ways than I could have imagined,” Harrison said.
Kelli Humbird
Before earning her Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University in 2019, Kelli Humbird began her journey at LLNL as a summer intern, where she conducted pioneering machine-learning analysis on the largest database of inertial confinement fusion simulations at the time. She then returned to the Laboratory as a Livermore Graduate Student scholar, and since joining as staff, she has focused much of her effort on advancing machine learning for inertial confinement fusion at the National Ignition Facility, working to improve Livermore’s predictive capabilities.
“By leveraging machine learning to connect detailed simulations with experimental data, my goal is to advance predictive physics modeling and fusion ignition — both central to LLNL’s mission and the broader objectives of stockpile stewardship,” Humbird said.
She enjoys the challenge of demonstrating new ideas, finding and creating new tools in situations where uncertainty is high and difficult to quantify. While the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning is moving fast, she hopes the EMCR funding will facilitate more hands-on time for her research efforts. “I’m actually quite excited to take a small fraction of my time to focus on some independent research and gain an intuition for what might be possible,” she said.
Kyle Mackay
After completing a Ph.D. in mechanical science and engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Kyle Mackay returned to his home state of California to work on modeling laser experiments at the National Ignition Facility and the OMEGA Laser Facility. In part due to his previous summer internships at Livermore and his involvement with NNSA through his university’s Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program, Mackay was drawn to Livermore’s mission of science in the national interest.
While his work spans a wide range of topic areas, ranging from integrated weapon experiments to the development of advanced simulation methodologies, all of his efforts support the modernization of the nation’s nuclear stockpile.
“I’m kept motivated by an awareness of the broader national picture, knowing that I’m contributing in some small part to a much grander challenge,” Mackay said.
Mackay is honored to be an EMCR award recipient in work that he finds very impactful and satisfying. He hopes to use the funding to advance his research on a more comprehensive and modern index of nuclear test data. “I think I’ll learn a lot by digging through the archives and hopefully the end product would be useful for other design physicists,” he explained.
Colin Ponce
Colin Ponce earned his Ph.D. in computer science from Cornell University, joining the Laboratory shortly afterward as a computational mathematician. At LLNL, Ponce’s research involves leveraging mathematics, computer science and machine learning to enhance security and resilience of the nation’s critical infrastructure. He has contributed to cutting-edge methods for decentralized computing, anomaly detection, and dynamic network modeling — particularly in support of national energy grid resilience.
Ponce’s recent work focuses on advancing AI applications for critical infrastructure, a rapidly growing area of interest due to AI’s potential to enhance safety, resilience, and efficiency. His current efforts involve building capabilities to test AI models against adversarial threats and exploring their role in improving infrastructure planning and control.
As an EMCR award recipient, Ponce plans to continue collaborating across disciplines to develop scalable, efficient algorithms tailored for modern high-performance computing environments.
“I plan on using my time to continue my multidisciplinary efforts to leverage AI and the amazing variety of people here at LLNL, and our modern high-performance computing environments, to bring a new level of security and resilience to our critical infrastructure,” Ponce said. “EMCR will give me the opportunity to focus on highly valuable nascent efforts that have the potential to really change the R&D but are not yet funded.”
Noah Sokol
Growing up in Toronto and spending summers in the woods of Maine, Noah Sokol developed a fascination with basic ecology from an early age. Fueled by a deep curiosity about the intricacies of forests, soils, and lakes, he earned a Ph.D. in soil biogeochemistry from Yale University in 2018 and joined LLNL shortly afterward as a postdoc. Now a staff scientist at Livermore, he supports the Earth Systems Resilience mission focus area through his research on carbon biogeochemical processes and enhanced rock weathering.
Looking ahead, Sokol is motivated by the need to discover scalable solutions for drawing down carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while also preserving the Earth’s biodiversity and maintaining resilience of terrestrial ecosystems. As an EMCR award recipient, he looks to move in new directions to better understand how plants, microorganisms, soils and minerals interact with far-reaching implications for the global carbon cycle.
“This will help me to employ new methods and approaches to understand how soil microbes can both accelerate silicate weathering and promote soil organic carbon storage,” Sokol explained. “By finding synergies among the inorganic and organic carbon cycles in soil, there is great possibility to leverage agricultural lands to draw down more atmospheric carbon dioxide while enhancing soil health.”
11–16 Year Cohort
Michael Bagge-Hansen
Immediately upon completing his Ph.D. in applied science from the College of William & Mary, Michael Bagge-Hansen joined LLNL as a postdoc, eager to be part of what he recognized as a positive and supportive culture with a wide variety of career opportunities. Now a group leader for the Nanoscale, Surface, and Interface Science Group in the Material Science Division with leadership involvement in two Strategic Deterrence programs, Bagge-Hansen works with teams that deliver material and chemistry insights to support stockpile stewardship and modernization.
His research focuses on the processes that begin at the surfaces or interfaces of materials that impact both their performance and aging. His teams focus on isolating, measuring, and understanding the nanoscale effects of these processes. Bagge-Hansen is humbled by the EMCR award and grateful for the opportunity to continue advancing his materials research.
“I plan to pursue opportunities to enhance surface and interface science collaborations in academia, industry, and with other National Laboratories,” Bagge-Hansen said. “I really resonate with science and technology on a mission. The work at LLNL is deeply technical but also urgent and important.”
Heather Enright
Heather Enright earned her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Davis in 2010, where she focused on developing nanoparticle imaging probes to investigate the biological impacts of particulate matter in both healthy and compromised individuals, as well as targeted probes for other disease applications. Shortly afterward, she joined LLNL as a postdoc in the Bio-Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (BioAMS) group, where she utilized the Lab’s unique AMS technology to advance her research in toxicology.
Now as the group leader of the Human Health Sciences Group and principal investigator of multiple projects, Enright has expanded her research to create and apply innovative experimental platforms, such as brain-on-a-chip models, to study how chemical and pathogen threats affect brain function. With these platforms, her teams help uncover mechanisms of injury, support development of effective treatments, and evaluate the efficacy of candidate therapeutics and countermeasures.
Inspired by the challenge of pushing the boundaries of human brain models and measurements, Enright is excited to utilize EMCR funding to explore new applications of her work.
“I plan to explore collaborative opportunities that integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyze complex datasets from our human brain models and other tissues,” Enright said. “This will help advance our understanding of threat impacts on human health and identify potential targets for treatment.”
Brian Giera
Brian Giera joined the Laboratory after receiving his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he focused on improving longstanding equation-based physics models. Since then, his career at LLNL has centered on applying advanced computational and data-driven approaches to complex problems in materials science and manufacturing.
As the director of Livermore’s Data Science Institute and a principal investigator of a Laboratory Directed Research and Development Strategic Initiative, Giera provides technical leadership in work that develops and deploys data science and machine-learning tools to improve the reliability and performance of advanced manufacturing processes. His team is working to ensure Livermore’s manufacturing processes meet the rigorous standards required for national security applications and scientific innovation.
Giera is honored to be named to the EMCR Program, viewing it as a responsibility to be collaborative, intellectually curious, and supportive in fostering Livermore’s positive and innovative research environment.
“Science is hard, but building an ecosystem that enables scientific breakthroughs — and nurtures the next generation of scientists — is even more challenging,” he explained. “My work is not just about solving technical problems; it’s about creating the environment, mentorship, and resources that allow innovation to flourish.”
Erin Nuccio
Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest in Washington state, Erin Nuccio has spent much of her academic and professional life in California, earning her undergraduate degree at Santa Clara University and later completing her Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of California, Berkeley. She joined LLNL as a postdoc to study the role of plants and microbes in soil carbon cycling and has since continued research in these topics as a soil microbial ecologist.
Nuccio now leads Livermore’s “Plant-Microbial Interaction” research effort, part of the DOE’s Office of Science-sponsored “µBiospheres Scientific Focus Area.” Her work advances energy security through improved bioenergy crop yields and enhancing bioresilience against biological threats.
She appreciates that being at Livermore means being at the forefront of scientific discovery, working with teams developing new methods and instruments to address unanswered questions. “I love brainstorming ideas and troubleshooting new methods,” Nuccio said. “The process of scientific discovery keeps me motivated and excited to pursue the next big question.”
Nuccio is looking forward to using the EMCR funding to cultivate more collaborations to support her scientific questions. She strives to gain a deeper understanding of how the diverse life within soil, including its microorganisms, insects, and plant roots, has direct implications for both crops and the world’s ecosystems.
Luc Peterson
Luc Peterson’s journey to LLNL began long before completing his Ph.D. in astrophysical sciences (plasma physics) from Princeton University. As an undergraduate intern in 2004, he discovered his passion for science, shifting career paths from law to physics. Since then, he has worked on a wide variety of exciting challenges spanning fusion ignition, machine learning, artificial intelligence, exascale computing, pandemic response and space.
As the associate program leader for data science in the Space Science and Security Program, Peterson now focuses on projects at the intersection of data science and space, in addition to work combining AI with multiphysics supercomputing simulations for NIF. His research brings together data science, AI, and high-performance computing to solve national security and scientific problems for real-world impact.
Peterson is looking to expand his impact using his EMCR funds to inspire bold, early-stage ideas and provide technical assistance and guidance to innovators exploring new approaches.
“For me, the next level is about fully leveraging AI, not just the hype, but the real possibilities,” Peterson said. “We’ve been integrating machine learning into our science for over a decade, and I think the key now is building an ecosystem that allows us to take full advantage of AI’s potential.”
Rhona Stuart
Rhona Stuart earned her Ph.D. in marine biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, where she studied microbial ecology of phytoplankton. Drawn to the unique instrumentation and multidisciplinary approach of LLNL, she joined the Lab as a postdoc in the Biosciences and Biotechnology Division immediately after completing her doctorate. She now serves as the deputy group leader of the Microbial Systems Biology Group and the scientific lead of the DOE’s Office of Science-sponsored, “µBiospheres Scientific Focus Area.” Her research aims to understand the fundamental molecular and spatial controls on host-microbe interactions that influence areas such as reliable domestic-energy supply, the bioeconomy and biomanufacturing, and biogeochemical cycling models.
With her passion for science and teamwork, she plans to use her EMCR award funding to engage with internal and external partners, expand cutting-edge science, and seek additional sponsorship in emerging fields.
She looks forward to exploring new research areas to uncover fundamental controls on microbial communities to then engineer microbiomes for advancing the bioeconomy. “Microbes are more than just threats that cause disease — they can help us all in our everyday work, and the world they experience is just as fascinating and complex as ours, with dramas playing out at the microscale, just waiting for us to uncover,” said Stuart.