Berkeley Lab

05/18/2026

“There are millions of different stars. We spend years exploring whether a star has life or water. In most cases, we fail. But if you find the one that does, it will be a breakthrough,” says Berkeley Lab Researcher Chaochao Dun.

“Chaochao has this boundless willingness to dive into the deep end of the pool and figure out how to swim when he gets there. That is a rare quality. People seek comfort, doing the things they know how to do.”
– Jeff Urban, senior chemist and longtime collaborator with Dun at the Molecular Foundry.

Materials science has spent decades chasing purity—fewer elements, cleaner crystals, and more control. Chaochao Dun’s work runs in the opposite direction. At the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, he makes materials by cramming 5, 10, even 25 different elements onto a single crystal lattice.

Current affiliation: Molecular Foundry, Berkeley Lab

Age: 38

PhD alma mater: Wake Forest University

My lab superpower is: “Working with flames and fast reactions, adjusting conditions by instinct until the right material forms. Years of experience have given me a feel for when chaos is about to turn into something stable and useful.”

My alternate-universe career is: “High school teacher in my hometown, helping students from small rural villages discover the beauty of science. I’d hope to show them that curiosity and hard work can open doors far beyond where they started.”

Read more about C&EN's 2026 Talented Twelve: https://brnw.ch/21x2z2a

05/18/2026

Advancing for physical sciences doesn't require building massive LLMs from scratch. Berkeley Lab's MatterChat bridges open-source LLMs with 3D physics models to support materials research in microelectronics and batteries.

"It’s the difference between building an entire car factory and just designing a smart adapter that connects a world-class engine to a world-class navigation system,” – Zhi (Jackie) Yao, Berkeley Lab Applied Math and Computational Research Division (AMCR) research scientist

(Full story via link in comments below)

Berkeley Lab Computing Sciences

05/13/2026

From startup to public company in less than a decade.

Fervo Energy has become the first Cyclotron Road alum to go public, a milestone for the company, the geothermal sector, and the broader ecosystem supporting energy entrepreneurship. Fervo participated in the Berkeley Lab fellowship in 2018, where the company received early support to help advance its enhanced geothermal technology.

Today, Fervo is developing geothermal systems designed to provide 24/7 electricity at a time of rapidly growing energy demand.

The milestone highlights what can happen when scientists, entrepreneurs, investors, and public institutions work together to move promising energy technologies from early development toward commercial scale.

(More via link in comments below)

📷: A Fervo Energy project near Milford, Utah. The company is trying to adapt drilling techniques from the oil and gas industry to unlock vast amounts of energy from Earth’s interior. (Credit: Brandon Thibodeaux for The New York Times)

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05/11/2026

Incoming Berkeley Lab Director Kathy Yelick shares her perspective on AI in a new interview with Science.

“We don’t want to just take AI and apply it to science. We want to understand, are there better ways of doing AI?”

And as new tools reshape research…

“Curiosity-driven science and discovery has been the strength of the lab. And we absolutely have to maintain that.”

Yelick discusses the future of AI-enabled science, multidisciplinary collaboration, and the role national labs can play in advancing both AI and discovery.

Read the interview in Science via link (paywall protected) in comments below.

05/08/2026

Congratulations to Berkeley Lab researcher Kristin Persson, newly elected member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Persson is the founder of the Materials Project, an database that’s vital for researchers designing new materials, and the most widely used repository of information on inorganic materials in the world, used by hundreds of thousands of people and vital for developing new materials for high-performance batteries, fuel cells, and data storage.

The Materials Project’s curated datasets enable -powered materials design for faster scientific discoveries.

(Learn more via link in comments below)

05/07/2026

We’re proud to share that two Berkeley Lab researchers have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Kam-Biu Luk (LBNL Physcial Sciences Area) and Gary Karpen (LBNL Biosciences Area) are being recognized for their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. They join a cohort of 120 new members and 25 international members.

(Full story via first link in comments below)

05/06/2026

“Dr. Yelick is an exceptional leader with outstanding scientific credentials,” said University of California President James Milliken. “Her deep expertise in computing and AI, combined with her proven ability to lead complex scientific organizations, will enable Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to pursue new discoveries in an era of rapid technological change.”

UC is proud to announce the appointment of Katherine “Kathy” Yelick as the ninth director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

An internationally recognized leader in high-performance computing and large-scale scientific research, Dr,. Yelick currently serves as vice chancellor for research at UC Berkeley and has held joint appointments at Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley for three decades.

Berkeley Lab is an internationally renowned institution dedicated to addressing urgent scientific challenges, from advancing energy solutions and protecting human health to revealing the origins and fate of the universe. Managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science since 1931, the lab has earned global distinction for discoveries recognized with numerous honors, including multiple Nobel Prizes.

Read the full story: https://bit.ly/4wauX85

05/06/2026

“At a time when advances in and are transforming how science is done, Berkeley Lab is uniquely positioned to lead. I look forward to working with the lab’s extraordinary community to advance its mission and deliver solutions to the nation’s most pressing challenges.” – Kathy Yelick

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University of California
U.S. Department of Energy

05/06/2026

“I am honored to serve as director of Berkeley Lab, an institution that has long stood at the forefront of scientific discovery and innovation.” – Kathy Yelick

📌 UC Names Katherine Yelick to Head Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – Full story via first link in comments below

University of California
U.S. Department of Energy