Marianne C. Walck is Director of the National Energy Technology Laboratory. She previously served as Vice President of the

Sandia National Laboratories Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), also known as Sandia, is one of three research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Headquartered in Kirtland Air Force B ...

, where she led nuclear weapons stewardship, and as the Chief Research Officer at the

Idaho National Laboratory Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is one of the national laboratories of the United States Department of Energy and is managed by the Battelle Energy Alliance. Historically, the lab has been involved with nuclear research, although the labora ...

Early life and education

Walck studied physics and geology at

Hope College Hope College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Holland, Michigan, United States. It was originally opened in 1851 as the Pioneer School by Dutch immigrants four years after the community was first settled. The first freshman coll ...

, which she graduated in 1978. She earned master's and doctorate degrees in

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and Physical property, properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct i ...

at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

. For her doctorate (1984), Walck worked on teleseismic array analysis of upper mantle velocity structure with Robert Clayton and Don Anderson. Her subsequent research considered subsurface energy sources and treaty verification.

Research and career

Walck joined

in 1984. After 6 years as a research scientist, she served as manager of the Geophysics Department. Her group conducted geophysical R&D, including monitoring subsurface processes using microseismic monitoring. In 2003, she was named Senior Manager for Nuclear Energy Safety Technologies, where Walck was responsible for five

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

groups, working on a range of topics including civilian

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...

and the transportation of nuclear waste. This involved studies for the

Nuclear Regulatory Commission The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the ...

, where she assessed the vulnerabilities of

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...

s to terrorist attacks. Her group's efforts were used during the

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The Fukushima nuclear accident was a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan, which began on 11 March 2011. The cause of the accident was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which r ...

. Starting in 2011, Walck also served as associate director of the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

Center for Frontiers of Energy Security. While Vice President for Sandia's California Laboratory (2015–2017), she was responsible for a 1300-person site in Livermore, CA that performed research and development in nuclear security and energy. Walck also led Sandia's Energy and Climate program, which looked at

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

, transportation energy systems and the nuclear fuel cycle. She was associate director of CFSES, the Center for Frontiers of Subsurface Energy Security, a collaboration between the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

and

. In 2015, Walck was named a Vice President of

. Walck retired from

in 2017. She was announced as the deputy director for Science and Technology of the

in 2018. In this capacity, she leads research, science and technology. Walck is a Distinguished Expert for the

California Council on Science and Technology The California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) is an independent, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization designed to offer expert advice to the California state government and to recommend solutions to science and technology-related pol ...

., and serves on a variety of advisory panels. In 2023, Walck was elected as a

Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellowship of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (FAAAS) is an honor accorded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to distinguished persons who are members of the Association. Fellows are elected ...

Personal life

Walck is married with two children. She is a violinist in her local community orchestra.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walck, Marianne Hope College alumni California Institute of Technology alumni Idaho National Laboratory American environmental scientists Sandia National Laboratories people 20th-century American scientists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American scientists 21st-century American women scientists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science