Brandon Zimmerman

It's 2am and you're opening the freezer door.

You know it's probably not the best idea, but you find yourself grabbing that tub of ice cream, calling your name.

Knowing it's rock hard, you're gentle with it as you place it on the counter, careful not to alert anyone of the personal choice you just made.

You reach into the drawer and grab a spoon.

but not the plastic one.

You don't even think about it.

You've never taken a material science class in your life, and you just made a material science decision.

That example is how Brandon Zimmerman, a scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, explained millions of dollars worth of national security material science to a room full of congressional staffers on Capitol Hill.

in three minutes.

A scientist can spend years on a discovery that could change the world and still lose the room in 30 seconds if no one understands why it matters.

So Lawrence Livermore built something to fix that.

A program designed to take the hardest science in the country and make it land for someone who's never set foot in a lab.

from local competitions to a showdown between 17 national labs in Washington, D.C.

This is the Research Slam.

Welcome to the Big Ideas Lab, your exploration inside Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Hear untold stories, meet boundary-pushing pioneers, and get unparalleled access inside the gates.

From national security challenges to computing revolutions, discover the innovations that are shaping tomorrow, today.

Looking for a career that challenges and inspires?

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is hiring for a senior labor relations advocate, a unified communications engineer, and a laser modeling physicist, along with many other roles in science, technology, engineering, and beyond.

At the lab, every role contributes to groundbreaking projects in national security, advanced computing, and scientific research, all within a collaborative, mission-driven environment.