Berkeley Lab Staff Make Key Contributions to National Lab Science Day on Capitol Hill

Forty staff members from across the DOE national lab complex helped convey the labs’ contributions and achievements to Congressional members and staff during National Lab Science Day. The education and outreach event, organized by the DOE Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs to highlight the national laboratory system as a cornerstone of the U.S. innovation ecosystem, was held Wednesday, April 20, in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

The timing was perfect as that same day the U.S. Senate passed the first broad energy bill since 2007. Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington, co-author of the bill, participated in the DOE event. Other elected officials attending included Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin, Idaho Sen. James Risch, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, Illinois Representatives Randy Holtgren and Bill Foster, Tennessee Rep. Chuck Fleischmann and Washington Rep. Dan Newhouse. Staff from many senators’ offices also attended.

The event centered on five theme areas: Science and Computation, Science and Energy, Science and the Environment, Science and Facilities and Science and the Universe. Multi-lab teams developed and staged the exhibit, which blended hands-on displays, videos and 60-second presentations.

Jon Bashor, communications manager for Computing Sciences, coordinated the Science and Computation display, recruiting staff from Argonne, Oak Ridge, Lawrence Livermore and SLAC to show how supercomputers are integral to scientific discovery, national security and economic competitiveness. Lauren Rotman, leader of ESnet’s Science Engagement Team, demonstrated how ESnet runs a dedicated science network linking the national labs and collaborators around the world. An interactive video display allowed visitors to watch short simulations showing how researchers use supercomputers to answer challenging questions of national importance.

Among the items on display were a 72-core Knights Landing processor loaned by Intel (and which will power NERSC’s newest supercomputer), a prototype section of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, a new weapons silencer to protect combat troops and a diesel engine fuel injector improved by using experiment and simulation.

After hosting a roundtable discussion of the importance of the national labs, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz led elected officials on a tour of the theme areas. After Bashor presented an overview of Science and Computation, Moniz launched an informal discussion about the possible role of neuromorphic computing (which will analyze problems in a manner more like a human brain). Later, Patricia Dehmer, Deputy Director for Science Programs in the Office of Science, spent about 20 minutes in the computation area.

Berkeley Lab Director Mike Witherell also attended and browsed the displays, as did former Director Paul Alivisatos, who was one of three invited participants in the discussion with Moniz.

Toward the end of the event, Moniz told the crowd, “I never had this much fun in Congress before.”