Session GA: Alternative Career Paths for a Nuclear Physicist

Achieving the extraordinary: Careers in Nuclear Physics at the NNSA Laboratories

The broad and diverse National Security mission given to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s laboratories requires strategic investments in maintaining and growing its core expertise and technologies in the area of nuclear physics. Nancy Jo Nicholas, Associate Laboratory Director for Global Security at Los Alamos National Laboratory, will discuss the breadth of opportunities for nuclear physicists at the NNSA Laboratories. Nicholas holds a Master’s Degree in Experimental Nuclear Physics. \\ The mission of Los Alamos National Laboratory is to solve the most complex national security challenges through scientific excellence. The Laboratory maintains an agile, responsive, and innovative workforce dedicated to multidisciplinary science, technology, and engineering capabilities. In addition, LANL maintains unique experimental and computational facilities, eleven of them nuclear. Lab personnel with degrees in nuclear physics work in a wide range of basic and applied research fields, technology development, as well as numerous non-traditional technical fields. \\ The NNSA Labs support diverse programs that include scientists of many nationalities, participation in experiments worldwide, sponsorship of workshops and conferences, and classified experiments and analysis. Areas of research at Los Alamos include nuclear science, plasma physics, quantum information science, weapon stockpile modernization, weapons physics, semiconductor irradiations, detector development, neutron radiography, advanced imaging, weapons data analysis, biosecurity, image analysis, signal processing, neural computation, experimental and computational neuroscience, and more. In the Global Security Directorate, nuclear physicists work on multidisciplinary teams in the physics of arms controls, space, nuclear safeguards, and intelligence. Researchers use nuclear material in a variety of forms to pioneer nuclear safeguards concepts, develop instruments and techniques to monitor and measure nuclear materials, operate the Nation’s only capability for nuclear criticality experiments, and lead the development of unique and innovative special-purpose nuclear reactor concepts. \\ Nicholas will also touch on the national laboratories’ significant investments in Laboratory Directed Research and Development, career development, internships, and a wide range of summer schools.   

From Physics to Data Science: Contemplating Careers Outside of Mainstream Academia

Academia and traditional research settings have long been the venue employing the majority of students graduating with degrees in physics, particularly at the doctoral level. At all degree levels the total number of degrees awarded in physics has increased dramatically over the past ten years. However, this same increase in the number of degrees awarded does not correlate with a similar increase in the number of tenure-track academic positions available for those graduates. Physics degree graduates then, by interest or necessity, may need to consider alternative employment options to the traditional academic path. In this talk, we will discuss the recent boom in industrial need for data scientists. The training that physics students receive at all degree levels uniquely positions them to fill the job that has been labeled by many business analysts to be “The Best Job in the US.” We will discuss what skills are necessary to develop as a viable applicant and how to best prepare for this exciting field. Most importantly, we will explore how a degree in physics makes a graduate uniquely suited to work in this fast-paced and rapidly-growing discipline.   

From the Navy to Congress: Progressing from Physics to Policy Making

U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria represents Virginia’s Second Congressional District. Prior to her election in 2018, Rep. Luria served two decades in the Navy, retiring at the rank of Commander. Rep. Luria served at sea on six ships as a nuclear-trained Surface Warfare Officer, deployed to the Middle East and Western Pacific, and culminated her Navy career by commanding a combat-ready unit of 400 sailors. A member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Rep. Luria was one of the first women in the Navy’s nuclear power program and among the first women to serve the entirety of her career in combatant ships. She leads the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, and is Vice Chair of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces. Of all members in the House Democratic Caucus, she served the longest on active duty, having completed 20 years of active military service with the U.S. Navy. Rep. Luria graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with an undergraduate degree in physics, and received a master’s in engineering management from Old Dominion University. \\ \\ She will share her career path, how her physics training has influenced that path, and give some tips for other physicists contemplating a path to policy making or elected office.