This year’s special recognition category within the Director’s Institutional Awards is the Exemplary Team Science Award. This award honors teams that demonstrate outstanding scientific collaboration at LLNL and throughout the broader national laboratory complex. LLNL celebrates the vital impact of deep and effective partnerships among scientific, technical, facility, operational and business personnel. Team science is central to LLNL’s mission, and the following award recipients exemplify the highest standards of collaborative achievement in science and technology.
This year’s winning teams are:
Exceptional Execution in the Acquisition, Partnership, Deployment, and Application Preparation for the El Capitan Exascale System
John Allen, Anna Maria Bailey, Ned Bass, Brian Behlendorf, Tal Ben Nun, Tom Benson, Adam Bertsch, Jeffrey Bilke, Aaron Black, Kim Bosque, Jason Burmark, Kevin Camacho, Jonathan Celniker, Al Chu, Mike Collette, James Corbett, Bradley Davis, Shawn Dawson, Ryan Day, Gian Carlo DeFazio, Cat De Frates, Christopher DePrater, Bronis De Supinski, Trent D'Hooge, Nikoli Dryden, Clay England, Olaf Faaland, Jon Fancher, Pier Fiedorowicz, Jim Foraker, Ethan Frank, Scott Futral, Todd Gamblin, Jim Garlick, Elsa Gonsiorowski, Mark Grondona, John Gyllenhaal, Nathan Hanford, Cameron Harr, Cindy Heer, DeeAnna Hill, Judy Hill, Brandon Hong, Tony Hutter, Becky Ip, Joanne Kim, Greg Lee, Matthew LeGendre, Matthew Leininger, Marty McFadden, John T. Miller, Daniel Milroy, Christopher Morrone, Christopher Moussa, Karl Mueller, Britton Olson, Ramesh Pankajakshan, David Richards, Peter Robinson, Brian Ryujin, Tom Scogland, Alec Scott, Jason Shortino, Harjot Sidhu, Jim Silva, Thomas Stitt, Angela Tanner, Katrina Trujillo, Brian Van Essen, Marquita Walker, Gary Ward, Pythagoras Watson, Lance Weems and Matthew Williams
The team behind El Capitan, NNSA’s first exascale supercomputer, demonstrated exceptional dedication through years of meticulous planning, including negotiations, contracting, development, deployment, and application preparation. Their efforts culminated in the successful deployment and acceptance of El Capitan in 2024, marking a critical milestone toward mission use within the classified network. This achievement underscores their dedication, technical expertise, and ability to execute a complex, multi-year project that will drive mission-critical capabilities for years to come.
Exemplary Creativity and Teamwork to Achieve W87-1 Pit First Production Unit
Jodene Abuda, Kristl Adams, Mark Adams, Josh Adamson, Minta Akin, Pat Ambrose, Joseph Anderson, Dan Badders, Michael Bagge Hansen, Matthew Barham, Brandalin Barnes, Alan Barraza, Gus Bernal, Kerri Blobaum, David Bober, Cheryl Brabec, Mark Bronson, Tyler Bronson, Robert Brown, Marc Burnside, Clint Byington, Keyu Cao, Lisa M. Capirchio, Patrick Capwell, Amy Cashin, Robert Casperson, Carol Champion, Ricky Chau, Brandon Chung, David Clevenger, Preston Cole, Rod Coleman, Lillian Consolati, Andrew Cose, Damian Cunningham, Hyunchae Cynn, Jeffrey Davis, Helen Deaguero, Andy Deal, Kyle Devlugt, Michael Di Giorgio, Long Dinh, Chuck Divin, Scott Donald, Jonathan Dwyer, Harrison Dyer, Ben Ebersole, Bill Edwards, Steve Ellis, James Embree, Dave Esry, Phillip Field, Luis Flores Vasquez, Dayne Fratanduono, Andrew Furmidge, James Galloway, David Galvez, Ryan George, Greg Getha, Megan Gibbs, Rory Gollott, Thomas Goodrich, Collin Gordon, Rusty Gray, Cole Greenwood, Ethan Grossman, David Gubernatis, KC Guenther, Laura Harper, Sean Harper, Sharee Harris, David Harvey, Samuel Harwood, Markell Hayes, Daniel Haylett, Karen Haynes, Wesley Heath, Taylor Helms, Jordan Herrema, Mark Herrmann, Emily Hoff, Kiel Holliday, Juliana Hsu, Robert Huber, Jeremiah Hunt, Travis Immesoete, Matt Jackson, Sony Jacob, Elizabeth Jameson, Jason Jeffries, Jesse Jelinek, Zsolt Jenei, Matt Johnson, Courtney Jorgensen, Shelly Jorgensen, Rebekah Kelly, Garrett Kendall, Ryan Kissinger, Brett Kniss, Kyle Kondrat, Marc Krubsack, Bryan Krumenacker, Clark Kuehl, David Kyslinger, Garrett Law, Neliza León-Brito, Maria Louisa Lujan, Kyle Mackay, Marlayne Mahar, Anirban Mandal, Paul Marples, David Martin, William Mascio, David Mayes, James Mayo, Scott McBeath, JB McLeod, Jacqueline Meeker, Uday Mehta, Jacob Meyer, John Miller, Keisha Milligan, David Moore, Ben Morrow, Ashley Morton, Michael Nagaishi, Fady Najjar, James Oakdale, Brian O'Neil, Josh Ottaway, Rick Paiva, Anthony Pastor, Bill Peach, Amelia Petersen, Craig Pham, David Phillips, Cary Pincus, Alex Preisser, Mike Puso, Ping Qian, Dane Ramos, Jeffrey Ramos, Eric Rawlinson, Alexandre Reikher, Nathan Ressler, Joe Reynolds, Lindsay Ripplinger, David Roberts, John Rodriguez, Tien Roehling, Ryan Romero, Debra Rosas, Dominic Roybal, Sam Sackett, Patrick Salay, Jesse Salazar, Teresa Salazar, Adam Sandoval, Cheng Saw, Cherie Schaeffer Cuellar, Gregory Schebler, Jason Schnackenberg, Donya Servando Williams, Dalton Simac, Scott Simpson, Todd Slavik, Brandon Smiddy, Blake Smith, Jerome Solberg, Anand Somasekharan, David Stobbe, Stephen Stout, Amelia Swan, Andrew Swift, Emma Tardiff, Kareena Taylor, Elyse Telford, Casey Thacker, Faith Thomas, Alexander Ting, Branton Tischhauser, Jerry Toon, Paul Tsuji, Dave Tung, Nick Tygard, Dan Upp, Tyler Van Lant, Doug Van Slyke, Justin Vilchis, Aaron Vingle, Nickolai Volkoff Shoemaker, Travis Volz, Teri Von Hartman, Nicholas Walters, Derek Wapman, Gerald Weigel, Stacy Weikel, Jessee Welch, Chris Wetteland, Elida White, Alicia Williams, Joshua Winheim, Jeffrey Wisoff, Alexander Wolfer, Clarissa Yablinsky, Steven Yep, Kellen Yeung, Teri York and Mavrik Zavarin
Since 2013, LLNL, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and Kansas City National Security Campus Product Realization Team members have been working closely with NNSA to reestablish pit production capability. The major effort led by this team took place from 2019 to 2024, culminating in the delivery of the First Production Unit Pit for the W87-1 in October 2024. While the larger goal includes establishing a production capacity of 30 pits per year at LANL, building the first production unit is an essential first step towards achieving these production rates.
Note: Nomination material has been edited and condensed.