About University Relations Program

Interactions between the university community and the national laboratories of the U.S. Department of Energy and its National Nuclear Security Administration are vital to the continuing effective execution of the department’s missions. The University Relations Program (URP) of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is responsible for fostering collaborations between the Laboratory and academic institutions —principally the University of California (UC) campuses—to enhance science and technology vitality, workforce recruiting, and mission execution at LLNL. In partnership with organizations across the Laboratory, the URP maintains a portfolio of programs designed to stimulate a continuing, two-way exchange between LLNL and the academic community. This page presents summary information on each of the URP program elements and highlights opportunities available to our academic collaborators, in four major categories:

Institutes

URP and LLNL’s associated program and discipline directorates jointly manage six scientific institutes, each targeting a specific field critical to LLNL's mission execution. The two-way mission of these institutes is to represent the scientific interests and technical needs of the directorates to the university community and serve as an entry point to the Laboratory for faculty, students, and administrators interested in collaboration.

Strategic University Collaborations

The URP promotes the development of significant strategic collaborations with university partners. These include LLNL’s multi-dimensional relationship with UC Davis in applied science, the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Adaptive Optics at UC Santa Cruz, the NSF Center for Biophotonic Science and Technology with UC Davis, the National Cancer Center at UC Davis, and our important efforts to assist in the establishment of the tenth UC campus at Merced.

Recruiting Pipeline Programs

URP serves as a focal point for strategic recruiting programs designed to attract early-career scientific and engineering talent to LLNL. Initiatives in this area include student internships, doctoral fellowships, LLNL’s prestigious post-doctoral fellowships, and a sabbatical program for university faculty and their students.