Vincent Tang
NIF&PS Principal Associate Director
Vincent Tang is principal associate director for the National Ignition Facility and Photon Science (NIF&PS) Directorate. Tang is responsible for leading the NIF&PS team to advance the Department of Energy’s leadership in transformational high energy density and photon science, technology, and capabilities for stockpile modernization, defense, and security, as well as fusion energy applications. He oversees the sustainment and advancement of NIF, development of advanced laser systems and associated technologies, and support of the Laboratory’s workforce in these areas. Tang also fosters close partnerships with other national laboratories, academia, industry, and government agencies.
Tang brings a wealth of experience to his role. He returned to LLNL after leading the establishment of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Infrastructure (ARPA-I) at the U.S. Department of Transportation, and most recently served at LLNL as NIF&PS Principal Deputy Principal Associate Director and Senior Advisor for LLNL’s inertial fusion energy Institutional Initiative from 2022 to 2024. During that period, he was also a member and subcommittee chair for the Defense Science Board at the Department of Defense.
Tang began his career at LLNL in 2006, developing compact accelerators and plasma sources, including z-pinch efforts. From 2013 to 2019, Tang served as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where he led key counter-weapons of mass destruction initiatives and was recognized with several awards, including DARPA’s Program Manager of the Year in 2016 and the Superior Public Service Medal in 2019. Tang returned to the Lab to lead Engineering’s Laser Systems Engineering and Operations division and supported the first magnetized NIF implosion experiments. In 2020, he established and led the High Energy Density and Photon Systems (HED&PS) Program in NIF&PS, integrating the HED Science and Technology and Advanced Photon Technologies organizations.
Tang holds dual B.S. degrees in nuclear and chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and an S.M. in nuclear engineering and Ph.D. in applied plasma physics in fusion from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
