SLAM JUDGES

Michael Brandt serves as a member of the Lab’s senior executive team along with the Laboratory Director and the Deputy Laboratory Director for Research and Chief Research Officer.  He joined Berkeley Lab in March 2018.

Brandt provides leadership and direction for the Lab’s operations and mission support organizations and programs, including Environment, Health, and Safety; Facilities Management; Financial and Business Services; Human Resources; Information Technology; Project and Construction Management; Security and Emergency Management; Institutional Assurance and Integrity; and Project Management. 

Before coming to Berkeley Lab, Brandt served as the Associate Laboratory Director of Environment, Safety, and Health (ES&H) at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He was responsible for Lab-wide ES&H activities for its 12,0000 employees operating in the 38-square-mile Los Alamos site.

He holds a doctorate in public health with a specialty in environmental health sciences and an M.S. in public health policy from the University of Michigan. He also earned an M.S. in environmental health and industrial hygiene from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in environmental science from Rutgers University.

Brandt has published more than 40 technical and leadership papers and delivered more than 100 invited technical, scientific, and leadership presentations. He has held academic appointments at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, and the College of Public Health at the University of Oklahoma. He served as President of the American Industrial Hygiene Association and was elected an association fellow in 2007.

Kimberly S. Budil sets the strategic vision for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and exercises broad delegated powers to ensure successful execution of programs and operations to enhance national security through application of cutting-edge science and technology and to maintain an outstanding and multidisciplinary workforce. She leads the development and implementation of the Laboratory’s scientific vision, goals and objectives and serves as the Laboratory’s highest-level liaison with the Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, the LLNS Board of Governors, the University of California and other government, public and private organizations.

Budil leads a workforce of more than 8,700 employees and manages an annual operating budget of approximately $3 billion. Along with the directors of Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories, she shares the responsibility of providing the United States government with an annual institutional assessment of the safety, security and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and enterprise. She is the 13th director of the Laboratory and serves as president of Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC.

Budil has held roles of increasing management responsibility at the Laboratory, most recently serving as principal associate director for Strategic Deterrence. Budil served as a detailee twice in Washington, D.C and was Vice President for National Labs at the University of California Office of the President. She currently serves on several boards and participates in numerous professional and community outreach activities.

Budil holds a Ph.D. in engineering and applied science from the University of California, Davis, where she was a Hertz Fellow, and a B.S. in physics from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Sarah Williams Allendorf is Director of the Chemistry, Combustion, and Materials Science Center, which advances fundamental groundbreaking research in chemical and material sciences. Sarah also leads the Combustion Research Facility (CRF), a Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE/SC) collaborative research facility and international leader in combustion science and technology for more than 30 years. In addition, she serves as Program Area Director for the Transportation & Industrial Processes Program within Sandia’s Energy & Homeland Security Portfolio.

Sarah began her professional career in 1989 as a postdoctoral researcher studying high-intensity, short-pulse laser–atom and laser–molecule interactions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. After joining Sandia in 1993, she teamed with other researchers to develop laser and optical sensors for monitoring molecular species in high-temperature, industrial environments for both process control and emissions compliance. Sarah moved into management in 2001, leading departments investigating combustion chemistry, microsystems processing, and materials physics.

In 2011, Sarah became Senior Manager of Energy Materials to deepen the impact of foundational materials science research on Sandia’s national security missions. In 2016, she returned to the CRF, serving as Deputy CRF Director and Senior Manager of the Chemical Sciences Group. In 2017, Sarah supported Sandia’s broader efforts for DOE/SC as Senior Manager in Sandia’s Advanced Science and Technology Program Portfolio. Sarah was named Director of the Chemistry, Combustion, and Materials Center in 2020.

Sarah has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the College of William and Mary, where she graduated magna cum laude, and a PhD in physical chemistry from Stanford University. She holds one U.S. patent and has authored more than 40 publications and major presentations. As a staff member, Sarah led teams that received the CRF Bastress Award “for contributions to the development of high-quality sensors for use by the U.S. steel industry” and a Sandia Award for Excellence “for significant achievement for China Lake contained rocket motor burn tests.” Sarah served on the Governing Board for the Council for Chemical Research from 2011 to 2014. She was also chosen to be Sandia’s 2020 Fellow in DOE’s Oppenheimer Science and Energy Leadership Program.

Alberto is responsible for advancing the lab’s Science & Technology (S&T) Strategy, identifying and realizing opportunities and strengthening the coordination and execution of S&T initiatives. He also serves as the lab’s chief research officer (CRO), where he leads the development and implementation of research policies, and partners with fellow CROs from across the national lab system in advancing Department of Energy priorities. Additionally, Alberto oversees the Office of Strategic Planning and the Office of Technology Transfer and Strategic Partnerships.

Prior to joining SLAC, Alberto was an assistant professor at Stanford University, and was the Hong Seh and Vivian W. M. Lim Professor in the School of Engineering. He also served as chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. His research focused on novel materials and processing techniques for large-area and flexible electronic/photonic devices, including polymeric materials for electronics and semiconductors and electrochemical devices for neuromorphic computing.

He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Rome and a master’s degree and PhD in materials science from the University of California, Berkeley, after which he spent time at Palo Alto Research Center as a postdoc. He is a Materials Research Society fellow, was nominated to the National Academy of Inventors and has been recognized for excellence in teaching, notably as a recipient of a Walter J. Gores Award from Stanford.