Los Alamos National Lab director to give talk at UT on Oct. 1

Charles F. McMillan, nuclear physicist and director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, will give the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy’s annual Distinguished Global Security Lecture on October 1 at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

McMillan will speak on “The Timeline of Technology” at 5:30 p.m. in the Toyota Auditorium at the Baker Center, 1640 Cumberland Avenue. The event is free and open to the public.

McMillan’s lecture will look at how innovations from the previous century are being used to solve today’s national and global security, energy, and environmental issues. Then he’ll pose a question to policy makers: “Are we prepared for the policy needed in the 22nd century with the scientific and technical expertise we have today?”

Baker Center Director Matt Murray said it’s an honor to have McMillan visit campus.

“Security is such an important issue and having the director of a national lab here to share his expertise on this subject is exactly what we hope to do with this lecture series,” Murray said. “This topic is particularly important in the rapidly changing world of science and technology.”

McMillan became director of Los Alamos National Laboratory and president of Los Alamos National Security LLC in June 2011. Before becoming director, he served as principal associate director for weapons programs, where he was responsible for the science, technology, engineering, and infrastructure that enable the laboratory to fulfill its nuclear deterrent mission. McMillan has more than 30 years of scientific and leadership experience in weapons science, stockpile certification, experimental physics, and computational science. He has earned two awards of excellence from the U.S. Department of Energy and holds four patents.

Based in New Mexico, Los Alamos National Laboratory is one of 20 labs in the Department of Energy system. It executes all of DOE’s missions of national security, science, energy, and environmental management. Los Alamos is one of three nuclear weapon labs.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory—managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy—is the largest science and energy national laboratory in DOE. Oak Ridge focuses on neutron science, energy, high-performance computing, systems biology, and national security.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory holds a unique partnership with UT. The UT-ORNL partnership generates more than $17 million annually in sponsored research. UT and ORNL have five joint research institutes. ORNL is also one of only eight DOE national labs whose managing partners include a university.

Public parking is available at the Volunteer Hall garage at 1545 White Avenue for $2 an hour. Directions and map are available online at http://bakercenter.utk.edu/about/directions-parking.

The Baker Center is a nonpartisan institute devoted to education and research concerning public policy and civic engagement. For more information, visit http://bakercenter.utk.edu.