President Milliken shared the following post on his Substack, The Gold and The Blue, Volume 22, on Sept. 22, 2026:

I recently had the good fortune to visit Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), one of the three national laboratories that UC helps manage on behalf of the federal government.

This came on the heels of my visit to Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The two labs share a parallel history. Many of the scientists who were instrumental in forming the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos — including Ernest O. Lawrence, Edward Teller, and Herbert York — helped establish Livermore National Laboratory. After World War II, Livermore Lab opened in 1952 as a second nuclear weapons laboratory with the goal of fostering competition with Los Alamos, furthering independent scientific review, and seeding a more innovative culture within the weapons development and deterrence enterprise.

The lab’s size and scope are impressive. It’s home to a roughly 9,000-person workforce and a $3.7 billion annual budget, led by Director Kim Budil. A world-leading physicist, Director Budil joined Livermore Lab in 1987. Over her career, she has conducted research alongside Nobel laureates and contributed across federal government agencies at the intersection of science and national security. She also previously led the coordination of the National Labs at the UC Office of the President. Five years ago, she was appointed as director of Livermore Lab — the first woman to hold the position. From my time with her, it’s clear that her leadership includes not only establishing research priorities, but also, importantly, fostering culture, setting high expectations, and building trust across the lab.

The scientists at Livermore span a remarkable range of disciplines, some of which I understand a bit better after several patient scientists explained them to me. They include nuclear and chemical science, fusion energy, biosecurity and bioengineering, earth and atmospheric science, advanced computing and manufacturing, lasers and optics, and more. These research topics are always evolving, as the lab is constantly adapting to the global threat landscape. Today, biosecurity, not a word we heard as much 30 years ago, is a growing focus of the lab’s work. A combination of biological science, high-performance computing, and predictive modeling, this research helps us anticipate and respond to emerging biological threats across the world.

Artificial intelligence and advanced computing came up repeatedly in our conversations, as they cut across nearly every one of the lab’s mission areas. Livermore Lab is at the vanguard of the most advanced national security applications in the world. Everyone agrees that AI is a vital tool for augmenting scientific understanding and accelerating analysis, but it’s not a replacement today for underlying scientific research led by human beings.

I also had the chance to meet with a handful of UC alumni working at the lab. Livermore Lab receives around 30,000 applications each year for approximately 1,200 student internships, roughly evenly split between undergraduate and graduate students. UC is well-represented, demonstrating the strength of the pipeline between our campuses and the national labs. Everyone I met agreed on the importance of continuing to make national laboratory opportunities more visible to students and faculty, including through more direct exchange and exposure with campuses.

Our national labs are extraordinary for their ability to spark collaboration, bringing together universities, federal agencies, industry, computation and specialized facilities that no single institution could easily replicate. UC’s stewardship role is essential in this effort, particularly in bringing an academic and long-term scientific perspective to the laboratory in partnership with faculty and students.

I’m grateful to Director Budil, her leadership team, and the incredible scientists working every day to advance scientific research and protect our country and world.

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