Join the Lab Director to celebrate the end of 2023 in a virtual celebration.

The Director’s Achievement Awards ceremony was a hybrid event held on November 8, 2023 in the Building 50 auditorium. The awards recognized Berkeley Lab employees for accomplishments, leadership, collaboration, multi-disciplinary science, cross-divisional projects, and commitment to excellence in support of the Lab’s mission and strategic goals.

On Wednesday, August 16, at 1 p.m., Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Michael Hiltzik presented his perspectives on Lawrence in a special event hosted by Berkeley Lab. Author of the 2015 book “Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention that Launched the Military-Industrial Complex,” Hiltzik is among the world’s experts on the subject. 

During the talk, Hiltzik provided an overview of Lawrence and his legacy and engaged in an on-stage conversation with Berkeley Lab Director Mike Witherell.

President Joe Biden named Darleane Hoffman and Gabor Somorjai as 2023 recipients of the Enrico Fermi Presidential Award, among the most prestigious awards in science and technology bestowed by the U.S. government. Hoffman, a pioneering nuclear chemist and close colleague of Glenn Seaborg, is known for the study of transuranic elements and joined Berkeley Lab’s Nuclear Science Division in 1984 as a faculty senior scientist. Somorjai, a chemist, has been a leader in catalysis for more than five decades and is an affiliate in the Lab’s Materials Sciences Division.

The Berkeley Lab community joined Lab Director Mike Witherell who shared highlights of the Lab’s accomplishments over the past year on Jan. 26, and looked ahead at the projects in 2023 and beyond that will continue to build the Lab of the future.

Director Witherell shared thoughts on what he's hearing from DOE headquarters, the White House, and Congress and discussed the role the national labs play in addressing national challenges in energy, environment, health, security, and the economy.