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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 25/09/2026

The Engineering Division’s Giorgio Vallone talks about his Genesis Mission project, what it’s like to work at Berkeley Lab, and how collaboration at the Lab can help solve challenging problems. Read more: engineering.lbl.gov/2026/09/15/a...

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 17/09/2026

Highlighting our student assistants! Berkeley Lab’s Engineering Division welcomed around a dozen student assistants this summer. Our student assistants represent the next generation of innovation in science and engineering. Read more about their work at the Lab here: bit.ly/4yEcMYF

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 11/09/2026

Why did we make a machine that looks like a pasta roller on steroids? A Lab researcher needed a way to quickly cool molten material–and #engineering stepped up to help. Learn more: bit.ly/4gxFW4n

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 03/09/2026

The Engineering Division’s Bobby Besuner reflects on his career as an engineer working on high-impact physics and cosmology instrumentation projects and what it has meant to work in the Engineering Division at Berkeley Lab. Learn more: engineering.lbl.gov/2026/08/21/b...

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 26/08/2026

Meet the twin roller quencher, #Engineering’s newest solution to an unexpected challenge. More: bit.ly/4gxFW4n

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 18/08/2026

Mechanical engineering technician Matthew Petagara measures and adjusts a section of the booster-to-accumulator transfer line—known as a raft—before its installation inside the Advanced Light Source.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 11/08/2026

Celebrating our retirees! A cohort of 11 employees retired from Berkeley Lab’s Engineering Division this June. Read about some of our retirees' fondest memories and proudest achievements during their careers: bit.ly/4qb8J2V

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 04/08/2026

ATLAS update! The Pixel Support Tube for the ATLAS upgrade is in the Engineering Division workshop. We’re currently working on test bonding the rails, which will support the Pixel Detector, to the interior of the cylinder.

The Pixel Support Tube for the ATLAS upgrade sits in the Engineering Division workshop.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 28/07/2026

Explore the world of wire bonding—the specialized process of connecting a microchip to the outside world—and the ultra-delicate, hands-on work that makes it possible. Read the story: bit.ly/4hCmPIs

An image sensor and two custom readout chips for the VeryFastCCD project. These components were designed at Berkeley Lab and wire bonded together in the Engineering Division. The unusual design of these pieces means that the sensor is wire bonded directly to the readout chips on both sides rather than the more traditional method of being bonded to the printed circuit board. (Credit: Phathakone Sanethavong, Berkeley Lab)

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 25/06/2026

@lbnlengineering.bsky.social Marcos McGee, a mechanical technician in Berkeley Lab’s #Engineering Division, talks about what it’s like to work on the #ATLAS detector, from the physical assembly process to the people who bring it all together.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 18/06/2026

Berkeley Lab engineers helped build ATLAS, one of the largest and most powerful particle detectors in the world, and now they’re working on the next-gen upgrade. Meet engineers Todd Claybaugh, Neal Hartman, and Eric Anderssen, and hear what it’s like to be part of team science.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 05/06/2026

Mike Barry, the Engineering Division’s Deputy of Operations, will be retiring after 29 years of service at Berkeley Lab. Read about Mike’s journey from the US Navy to playing an essential role in guiding and shaping #engineering at the Lab. Read more: bit.ly/43mCHXk

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 02/06/2026

How can tiny #robots measure entire galaxies? See how Berkeley Lab #engineers created Iris, a prototype for mapping the primordial universe.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 26/05/2026

youtube.com/shorts/47Rj1... Spec-S5 will map 200 million stars, scaling DESI from 5,000 to 25,000 fiber positioners . Zooming in on one of the smallest aspects of Spec-S5, mechanical engineer Nick Wenner explains Iris, a tiny robot with massive potential.

youtube.com

Iris prototype robot for DESI upgrade, Spec-S5 | Berkeley Lab Engineering + Physics

YouTube video by Berkeley Lab Physical Sciences Area

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 19/05/2026

@lbnlengineering.bsky.social Technicians and engineers have achieved a major milestone, completing a 2-year project to wind the closed-loop coil for the MARS-D magnet. Find out how this incredibly challenging and technically difficult work was accomplished: bit.ly/49apX9F

A close-up of the closed-loop coil for the MARS-D magnet during production. The niobium-titanium (Nb-Ti) superconducting wire is shown wrapped around a series of 90-degree corners. (Credit: Lianrong Xu, Berkeley Lab)

Clamps positioned along the CLC hold down the wire throughout the winding process. (Credit: Lianrong Xu, Berkeley Lab)

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 11/05/2026

@lbnlengineering.bsky.social More than 20 years ago, Berkeley Lab engineers helped build the Pixel Support Tube for the @atlasexperiment.bsky.social at CERN. Today, the Engineering Division is finishing work on the Pixel Support Tube for the ATLAS HL-LHC Upgrade Project–with much of the same team!

From top left: Jon Wirth, Tom Johnson, mechanical engineering associate, Todd Claybaugh, mechanical engineer, Eric Anderssen, project engineer for the ATLAS Inner Tracker upgrade, and Neal Hartman, project engineer for ATLAS Inner Pixel Detector.

Taken in April 2026. Photo credit: Thor Swift, Berkeley Lab

From top left: Jon Wirth, Tom Johnson, Mario Cepeda, Alexis Smith, Eric Anderssen, and Neal Hartman.

Taken in April 2005. Photo credit: Roy Kaltschmidt, Berkeley Lab

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 15/04/2026

Take a tour through the Advanced Light Source tunnel—a place that is rarely exposed to view. Here, it is shown open for maintenance activities and the installation of the new Accumulator Ring! The Engineering Division’s Kyle McCombs provides a look into this major ALS upgrade.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 01/04/2026

Our #ElectronicsEngineers are designing #microchips for extreme environments. Learn about the prototype microchips we’re developing that will function immersed in vat of liquid argon at temperatures of around -300F. Read about the microchip: bit.ly/4tqfJK0

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 25/03/2026

Engineering Division #Machinist Mike Gronley inspects the thickness of a prototype fiber-positioning robot, which he fabricated in the Lab’s machine shop. The piece required tight tolerances and thin features. It is for Spec-S5, a next-gen instrument that will map the universe using #Spectroscopy.

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Reposted by Berkeley Lab Engineering Division

Berkeley Lab @berkeleylab.lbl.gov · 19/03/2026

A supercomputer doesn’t just arrive, it’s built piece by piece.This timelapse shows delivery and installation of Cech, an early-access system preparing for the Doudna supercomputer at @nersc.bsky.social, from moving massive cabinets to system integration. #QuantumComputing #DiscoveryToDelivery

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 18/03/2026

Work in the Engineering Division’s mechanical shops can be incredibly varied, from building ultra-advanced scientific instrumentation to partnering with staff across the Lab to solve a technical issue. Recently, the team reverse-engineered end bells for a server room chiller. More: bit.ly/4sc0nIG

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 10/03/2026

Watch the installation of our new #CNC machine. The process involved building a special foundation, craning large parts into place, and calibration. Full video here: bit.ly/3N9eVJY

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 05/03/2026

@lbnlengineering.bsky.social @berkeleylab.lbl.gov is enabling the next generation of microelectronics—and the Engineering Division is helping make it possible. Learn about Engineering’s own Seno Rekawa, Chief Engineer and Deputy Director at the Center for X-Ray Optics. More: bit.ly/4lhwRie

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 26/02/2026

@lbnlengineering.bsky.social Take a look at our new large-format computer numerical control horizontal boring mill! It was delivered over a five-day period in early December 2025. The new machine gives a big boost to the capabilities in the Engineering Division’s shops. More: bit.ly/4aGQk8c

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 12/02/2026

Take a peek at a mandrel for a canted-cosine-theta (CCT) superconducting magnet coil, machined by the Engineering Division. It will form the inner layer of a four-layer, proof-of-concept magnet. Read more: bit.ly/463L1x1 #Science #Research #Innovation #Engineering #Magnet #MadeinBerkeleyLab

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 05/02/2026

Big news arrives in big packages in the Engineering Division! We’re putting the finishing touches on a new CNC horizontal boring mill, bringing powerful new capabilities to our shops—including multi-axis contour milling, precision boring, drilling, and tapping. #Engineering #Milling #PrecisionBoring

A piece of the Engineering Division's new large-format CNC horizontal boring mill arrives at the Engineering Division's machine shops on the Berkeley Lab camps. Photo credit: Thor Swift, Berkeley Lab

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 27/01/2026

Team science then and now. Scientific and technical staff posing within and on top of the magnet for the 60-inch cyclotron in September 1939 vs the Engineering Division’s ALS Mechanical Technology Group posing in the ALS in 2025.

Berkeley Lab’s scientific and technical staff posing within and on top of the magnet for the 60-inch cyclotron. The photo was taken in September 1939, the same year Ernest O. Lawrence won a Nobel Prize for the invention of this instrument. Featured in the photo are many of the scientific luminaries of the time, including Lawrence himself, Luis Alvarez, and Robert Oppenheimer.

The Engineering Division’s ALS Mechanical Technology Group is posing in the Advanced Light Source (ALS) in an homage to the iconic 60-inch cyclotron photo. The photo was taken in the summer of 2025 to mark the in-tunnel mechanical installation of the Accumulator Ring (AR) and Booster-to-Accumulator (BTA), an important milestone in the Advanced Light Source Upgrade project at Berkeley Lab.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 13/01/2026

Made in Berkeley Lab: a custom-built electronics chassis for a programmable logic controller, designed to protect people and equipment. “I am especially proud of achieving a clean, structured cable layout despite the tight spacing,” says Vinnie Aromin, electronics technologist who made the chassis.

Neat rows of orange and blue cables housed with in an electronics chassis.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 06/01/2026

The Engineering Division is part of a multi-lab effort to build #superconducting magnets for the Large Hadron Collider Upgrade project at #CERN.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 18/12/2025

Our #Engineering Small Project Support team recently designed a custom small-batch chemical reactor, helping bridge a critical gap in testing new #chemistry processes before upscaling them to larger experiments. Read more: bit.ly/4pVPBVG

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 09/12/2025

Made in Berkeley Lab: the plasma chamber at the heart of heavy ion accelerators. This piece of equipment includes about 30 individual components, which were fabricated and assembled over 350 hours of machining, welding, leak detection, & ultra-high-vacuum cleaning. More: bit.ly/4rRkdtc

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 03/12/2025

Step into the heart of the @als.lbl.gov and see what happens during a major shutdown. Watch the full story unfold: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPv_...

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 25/11/2025

Engineering can take you to unexpected places. In 2009, Berkeley Lab Engineering Division Electronics Engineer Thorsten Stezelberger and Nuclear Science Division Senior Scientist Spencer Klein camped on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica while testing hardware in the field. Read more: bit.ly/3XNXj7U

Berkeley Lab Electronics Engineer Thorsten Stezelberger places an antenna in a hole in the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica.

Spencer Klein (left) and Martha Story (right) dig antenna holes at their camp on the Ross Ice Shelf.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 14/11/2025

@lbnlengineering.bsky.social LuSEE-Night will test the effectiveness of radio antennas on the far side of the Moon and gather data about the Dark Ages of the Universe. A lot of engineering has gone into this instrument, which must operate in an intense lunar environment. More: bit.ly/46AWkNH

In this image, Physics Division staff scientist Aritoki Suzuki (right) and postdoctoral researcher Kaja Rotermund install the central bearing assembly for the shaft that rotates LuSEE-Night’s carousel. This component was later replaced by a shaft made of a glass-reinforced PEI polymer to further reduce thermal conductivity between the exterior lunar environment and the instruments protected by the thermal casing.

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Reposted by Berkeley Lab Engineering Division

Berkeley Lab @berkeleylab.lbl.gov · 07/10/2025

🏅 Former Berkeley Lab senior scientist John Clarke has won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics. His research on quantum tunneling in electric circuits paved the way for today’s quantum computers and sensors. 🧠 This brings LBNL’s Nobel count to 17! @nobelprize.bsky.social @uofcalifornia.bsky.social

newscenter.lbl.gov

Former Berkeley Lab Scientist John Clarke Wins 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize committee honored former Berkeley Lab scientist John Clarke for research in quantum tunneling in electric circuits.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 26/09/2025

CERN is the beating heart of particle physics. It is the center of the world for that,” remarks Berkeley Lab Mechanical Engineer Todd Claybaugh. Claybaugh has made several trips to CERN to support the upgrade of ATLAS’s Inner Tracker. He snapped this pic at CERN in Dec 2024.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 16/09/2025

Components engineered @berkeleylab.lbl.gov will support LuSEE-Night, which will test the effectiveness of radio antennas on the far side of the moon and gather data about the Dark Ages of the Universe. This image shows a detailed view of parts designed at the Lab. Read more: bit.ly/46AWkNH

This image shows a detailed view of the pin lock on the underside of the antenna assembly's carousel for LuSEE-Night. The carousel was designed by Berkeley Lab engineer Joe Silber. During launch and transit, the pin lock stabilizes the platter and prevents it from rotating. After landing, the pin is retracted, freeing the carousel to rotate.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 10/09/2025

A view from the Engineering Division's mechanical fabrication facilities. Machinists prepare to move a plinth for the Advanced Light Source Upgrade (ALS-U) onto a large-format horizontal boring mill for additional machining. #Engineering #LabLife #BoringMill #Machining

Two men wearing hardhats stand on either end of large white plinth, which is supported by a crane. Photo: Rick Kraft, Berkeley Lab

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 03/09/2025

At CERN, the final precision pin is inserted into the outer cylinder, which is part of the support structure for the ATLAS Inner Tracker upgrade. Berkeley Lab engineers built this carbon-fiber composite cylinder and are part of the team making this upgrade happen. Learn more: bit.ly/3JmB1qd

The final precision pin is inserted into the outer cylinder at CERN. Photo credit: Eric Anderssen, Berkeley Lab

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 28/08/2025

Meet the undulators that will revolutionize scientific research! Berkeley Lab #engineers have created nine new #undulators and retrofitted 21 existing undulators for SLAC's LCLS-II-HE upgrade. The first photo shows a completed undulator; the second photo shows the magnetic undulator components.

A completed undulator for SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source high-energy upgrade.

The magnetic components that make up an undulator.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 22/08/2025

CERN’s ATLAS detector, the largest detector ever constructed for a particle collider, has been undergoing a multi-year upgrade to overhaul its innermost tracking system. Learn about the role Berkeley Lab engineers are playing in this massive scientific undertaking: bit.ly/3JmB1qd

The new outer cylinder of the ATLAS inner tracker under construction at Berkeley Lab in 2023. (Credit: Thor Swift, Berkeley Lab)

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 08/08/2025

Happy birthday to Ernest O. Lawrence, founder of @berkeleylab.lbl.gov, born August 8, 1901. He received the Nobel Prize for inventing the cyclotron, an antecedent of the modern-day ALS. He also pioneered the concept of Big Science – an approach we still follow! Watch a short video: bit.ly/3HbKjUW

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 01/08/2025

See our incredible rigging team in action at the @als.lbl.gov! More about roof blocks here: physicalsciences.lbl.gov/2025/07/28/a... Video: Thor Swift, Berkeley Lab

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 29/07/2025

A delicate dance with 20-ton concrete blocks. Eighteen enormous concrete blocks will be moved at strategic locations around the historic Advanced Light Source building this summer in a carefully executed engineering operation. Find out more: bit.ly/4lKlL4y Photos: Thor Swift, Berkeley Lab

A roof block is moved by crane at the Advanced Light Source.

The rigging team prepares and moves Roof Blocks 74 and 76 at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) Sector 12 area, as part of the Summer 2025 shutdown work on the ALS Upgrade project, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab).

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 23/07/2025

The shell and yoke structure of one of the new superconducting magnets being assembled @berkeleylab.lbl.gov for the HL-LHC at CERN. Once installed, these will be the first niobium-tin-based magnets ever used in a particle accelerator and will increase the LHC’s luminosity by a factor of ten.

The shell and yoke structure of one of the new superconducting magnets being assembled in Berkeley Lab Engineering Building 77 for the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) at CERN.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 16/07/2025

The evolution of purpose-built #synchrotron #magnet housings, as our #engineers work to get the design just right. Magnets in a synchrotron act like a high-speed traffic system, steering electrons and keeping them in the right "lanes." Getting the magnets in the right orientation is essential.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 10/07/2025

#GRETA will be the world’s most sensitive gamma-ray #spectrometer when it comes online later this year. Learn about the #engineering that went into this powerful instrument, which will soon be probing the fundamental building blocks of the universe. Read about GRETA: bit.ly/46yCJhs

An up-close look at several of GRETA’s germanium detectors, each made up of four position-sensitive quadrants, installed for testing at Berkeley Lab.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 07/07/2025

Go behind the scenes with our engineering team as they help build the next-generation ATLAS detector for @cern.bsky.social.

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Berkeley Lab Engineering Division @lbnlengineering.lbl.gov · 01/07/2025

Then and now! Our Mechanical Fabrication Shops, shown in July 1973 and today. The shops are an incredible resource for the Lab, and they continue to evolve to meet the demands of cutting-edge engineering and science. Curious to know more? Read about the shops here: bit.ly/3GvktLg

Berkeley Lab Engineering Mechanical Fabrication Shops in July 1973.

Berkeley Lab Engineering Mechanical Fabrication Shops top.

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