Advisory committee named for Berkeley Lab director search

University of California President Janet Napolitano today (June 3) announced the appointment of a committee to help in a national search for a new director to lead Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). The search committee consists of UC regents, faculty, administrators and Berkeley Lab senior scientists. Berkeley Lab is managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science.

Outgoing laboratory Director Paul Alivisatos announced in March that he would leave his position when a successor is named. Alivisatos will return to his research and teaching activities as a senior scientist in the lab’s Materials Sciences Division and as a faculty member at UC Berkeley.

Alivisatos is an award-winning chemist and internationally recognized authority on the fabrication of nanocrystals and their use in solar energy applications. Former UC President Mark Yudof named him the seventh director of Berkeley Lab in November 2009.

“We are very grateful to Director Alivisatos for his years of dedication and leadership at the Berkeley Lab,” Napolitano said. “I am confident the search committee will help us identify a strong candidate to guide and support the groundbreaking research happening at Berkeley Lab.”

The members of the search committee for the Berkeley Lab director include:

  • Kimberly Budil, chair of the search committee; vice president for national laboratories, UC Office of the President; and Berkeley Lab advisory board ex-officio member
  • William De La Peña, UC regent and vice chair of the regents Committee on Oversight of the DOE Laboratories
  • Yolanda Gorman, incoming UC regent (effective July 1, 2015)
  • Norman Pattiz, UC regent and chair of the regents Committee on Oversight of the DOE Laboratories
  • Bruce Varner, chair of the UC Board of Regents
  • Charlene Zettel, UC regent
  • Monica Lozano, ex-officio member of the search committee and incoming chair of the UC Board of Regents (effective July 1, 2015)
  • Janet Napolitano, UC president and convenor and ex-officio member of the search committee
  • Nicholas Dirks, UC Berkeley chancellor and Berkeley Lab advisory board ex-officio member
  • Aimée Dorr, UC provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and Berkeley Lab advisory board co-chair
  • Gary Leal, UC Academic Senate representative and professor of chemical engineering at UC Santa Barbara
  • Saul Perlmutter, senior scientist at Berkeley Lab and professor of physics at UC Berkeley
  • Natalie Roe, physics division director at Berkeley Lab
  • Robert Birgeneau, ex-officio member of the search committee; chair of the screening task force; UC Berkeley chancellor emeritus; and professor of physics, materials science and engineering, and public policy at UC Berkeley

Committee members and invited guests will gather in closed session for their first meeting in late June. The daylong forum will include sessions with outgoing Director Alivisatos, DOE leadership and lab employee focus groups.

The search committee will be assisted by a screening task force chaired by Robert Birgeneau, chancellor emeritus and professor at UC Berkeley, as well as an executive search firm. The task force is responsible for the initial screening of applicants and nominations, and will provide the search committee with a list of candidates for consideration. The search committee will evaluate these candidates and may consider others, and will conduct interviews to identify a short list of final candidates for the position.

The work of the task force and search committee will be scheduled so that final candidates can be presented to President Napolitano for consideration, and a recommended nominee submitted to the UC Board of Regents and the Department of Energy, tentatively by the end of the year.

Members of the public and the UC community may submit comments or questions by email to the UC Office of the President at LBNLDirectorSearch@ucop.edu. Input received through this address will be screened by the Office of the President and shared with the search committee as appropriate.

For more information about the search, visit http://ucop.edu/berkeley-lab-director-search.

For more information about Berkeley Lab, visit http://www.lbl.gov.

Regents Policy on Selection of Laboratory Directors: http://regents.universityofcalifornia.edu/governance/policies/7104.html