March 1, 2023

Gordon Brunton Named NIF Director

By Benny Evangelista

Gordon Brunton came to NIF and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) while taking a six-month sabbatical from his previous job and stayed because of the Lab’s “unique environment.” Now, almost 19 years later, Brunton has been named the new director of NIF.

Brunton succeeded Doug Larson, who retired in December as director after capping a 39-year-career with LLNL. As director, Brunton is responsible for the stewardship of NIF as a premier high energy density experimental facility for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)’s Stockpile Stewardship Program.

He also manages the overall integration of capabilities critical for NIF to deliver on its important mission work and helps to build partnerships with the growing user community.

Brunton takes the post at a time when NIF has moved into a new era of research following the historic Dec. 5, 2022, experiment that achieved fusion ignition in a laboratory for the first time.

“To quote Winston Churchill,” Brunton said, ‘Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.’

“With more than 20 years invested in getting NIF to the starting block,” Brunton said, “we must prioritize restoring the workforce and facility to sustainably continue to maximize the recent outstanding results for the Stockpile Stewardship Program.

“Beyond the near-term sustainment of NIF,” he said, “our modest plans for further upgrades will continue to extend our worldwide leadership in high energy density physics and keep NIF as a flagship scientific capability of the nation for decades to come.”

Jeff Wisoff, NIF & Photon Science principal associate director, said Brunton “brings a deep knowledge of NIF and its stakeholders to the job. He will be a great leader as we execute on NIF sustainment plans while delivering on our important mission work.”

A native of Scotland, Brunton has said he developed “a passion for large-scale complex projects” over the course of his professional career.

Before assuming his current role, Brunton was NIF’s deputy director for capabilities and planning, overseeing the integrated NIF budget and capability planning and execution. He worked with the NIF program, users, and the facility to define project priorities and milestones, ensuring capability development and support was aligned with NIF’s long-range experimental needs and operations.

Before that, Brunton led the NIF & Photon Science Control Systems section and was responsible for large-scale controls developments such as systems for the Advanced Radiographic Capability (ARC) laser system and initiatives that improved NIF’s shot rate.

Brunton graduated with a B.S. in computer science from Heriot-Watt University, Scotland. He led numerous projects and subsystems while at Raytheon Systems Canada for the civilian and military Canadian Automated Air Traffic System project.

“I have many years of invested learning and understand the complexities in building and maintaining these kinds of large systems that are very similar to NIF,” he said.

He came to LLNL in 2004 on a sabbatical from Raytheon, working as consultant systems analyst to design and develop software for several of NIF’s adaptive-feedback control systems, such as temporal pulse-shaping and programmable spatial-shaping. The posting also fed a personal desire to move to California.

Brunton stayed on full-time at the Lab and NIF because its unique environment affords the “luxury of working with teams on large problems, those that drive advancement of science versus those that drive company profits.

“It’s given me personally way more satisfaction than my industry experience, as has the collaborative opportunities I have had with international peers through various conferences that I’ve been part of,” he said.

More Information:

"Keeping NIF’s Symphony of Controls in Tune,” NIF & Photon Science News, February 12, 2020

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