Patricia Koning

Director of Communications

Patricia Koning is the director of communications for the NIF & Photon Science Directorate. She is responsible for strategic communications and messaging for internal, sponsor, stakeholder, and partner communities. She oversees NIF&PS News and collaborates with the LLNL Public Affairs Office on external communications.

Koning has more than 20 years of experience in science communications. Before joining LLNL in 2018, she worked at Sandia National Laboratories for 15 years. Her roles spanned public relations, community relations, and leadership, sponsor, and internal engagement, and she was named a Distinguished Member of the Laboratory Staff. Most recently, she founded and managed Sandia’s California Communications and Information Management department.

She started her career as a journalist and has worked in communications at several high-tech companies. She received B.A. degrees in history and English from the University of California, Irvine and an M.A. in science writing from Johns Hopkins University. She has earned awards for her writing from APEX, MarCom, and the Society for Technical Communications.