Anna Llobet
Anna Llobet is an experimental physicist who is currently working in the Weapons Program Theoretical Design division’s Safety and Surety group, where she helps ensure the safety of the United States’ nuclear weapons. She currently combines analysis of experimental data and the results of numerical simulations using several Los Alamos–developed hydrodynamic codes that run in our high-performance computing systems to simulate small and large experiments relevant to nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship.
Anna began her Laboratory career as a postdoc in the Materials Science and Technology group in 2001 where she studied strongly correlated electron systems at very low temperatures using neutron scattering. She then became a staff member and instrument scientist in one of the neutron scattering instruments at the Lujan Neutron Scattering Center at LANSCE studying phase transitions, local structure and magnetism in multifunctional materials. During that period, she participated in the Mentor-Mentee program, Leadership Development Initiative and On-Ramp trainings. She also spent a year working at Sigma after which she became the acting deputy group leader for LANSCE-LC and then of the re-organized P-27 and later of P-23 where she started doing dynamic Proton Radiography experiments at LANSCE. From 2017-2020 she led the Pu@pRad project to build the capability to perform small scale plutonium experiments at pRad and two years ago she joined XTD-SS where she is leveraging her new knowledge about hydrodynamic codes to inform weapons assessments given by Los Alamos directors to the president of the United States about the safety, reliability, and effectiveness of the nation’s nuclear deterrent without full-scale nuclear testing.
Anna was the organizer of several of the LANSCE Neutron School which ran for 11 years and is the founder of the Summer Physics Camp for Young Women — a two-week science camp that gives New Mexican and Hawaiian students a chance to explore careers in science, technology, engineering and math which is an ongoing effort and it is in its 8thedition in 2024. In 2021 those efforts were joined by other national laboratories, and they formed the SAGE Consortium and partners with other national labs to create STEM camps for women and internships in National Labs. In 2024, at least 29 students from NM past camps will be summer interns at LANL. Dr Llobet received the Los Alamos Individual Distinguished performance award in 2018. In 2022 she received the Los Alamos Community Relations Medal that recognizes community leadership and encouraging partnerships within Northern New Mexico and across these sectors: STEM education, economic/workforce development, and philanthropic investment of time or resources and was also honored with the 2022 IMPACT! Award by the NM Network for women in Science and Engineering. She is currently the vice-chair of the J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee (JROMC), an organization dedicated to preserving honor the legacy and spirit of J. Robert Oppenheimer the first director of Los Alamos National Laboratory, by promoting the love of learning and the power of discovery in ways that have a positive impact on our world through thought-provoking public lectures by distinguished speakers; a scholarship program for high school students exhibiting exceptional promise, creative thinking, and excitement of discovery; and science-education outreach activities in Northern New Mexico. She is Board member in the NM Academy of Science, an organization that works with teachers, state agencies, and the legislature to establish appropriate standards for the teaching of the science and of the NM Network for Science and Engineering a non-profit organization supporting and advocating for women in technical professions and encouraging young girls to pursue STEM education and STEM-related careers.
Anna is the mother of two kids: Antoni and Gloria and is very happy her “taxi-mom” times are over. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, volunteering, gardening, traveling, and camping.
Anna received her B.S degree in Physics by the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (Catalonia-Spain) and Ph.D. by Universitee Joseph Fourier (Grenoble-France) and also Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.
