ESTP Alumni Working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
By Nicole Rihn
For over 70 years, LLNL has applied science and technology to make the world a safer place. The Lab’s mission is to enable U.S. security and global stability and resilience by empowering multidisciplinary teams to pursue bold and innovative science and technology.
This mission is split into four areas relevant to the current and future stability of our world. This has enabled the Lab to better address issues of nuclear deterrence, threat preparedness and response, climate and energy security and multi-domain deterrence. In all four areas of their central mission, the Lab relies on a talented workforce recruited from the best schools to think bigger. With exceptional work in preeminent areas of science and operations, the Lab’s influence doesn’t stop at the country’s borders — their innovations make the world a better place to live.
Nirmit Deshpande (M.S. '23) joined the Applied and Emerging Materials Group in the Materials Science Division at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in 2024. His research includes designing battery cell chemistries for unique project applications, as well as automation of experimentation in the Advanced Manufacturing Laboratory (AML).
“LLNL’s fast-paced environment and brilliant staff scientists make it an inspiring place every day, and I’m excited to see the Lab pushing the limits of the US Department of Energy (DOE)’s critical mission areas of climate and energy security”
At Carnegie Mellon, he received his master's in Energy Science, Technology & Policy in the College of Engineering, and was a Graduate Research Assistant in the groups of Jay Whitacre and Venkat Viswanathan. EST&P supported him with the flexibility to take energy courses from EPP and MSE while also balancing his research projects during the semester. This interdisciplinary approach to a complex challenge like energy and climate change makes Carnegie Mellon and the EST&P program uniquely positioned to produce scientists and leaders for the future.
Prior to joining CMU, he worked as a Technical Research Associate at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Stuttgart. He received his B.E. in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from BITS Pilani, India.
Carnegie Mellon University alumna Hannah Goldstein (M.S. '18) is pursuing bold and innovative science and technology to enable U.S. security and global stability. Hannah is the Group Leader of the Systems Policy and Analysis Group in the Data Analytics and Decision Sciences Section in the Computational Engineering Division at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California.
Hannah joined the Lab in 2018 as an Energy Technology Analyst after receiving her M.S. in Energy Science, Technology and Policy from Carnegie Mellon University. Since starting at LLNL, she has been involved in a diverse set of projects including the LLNL Flow Chart initiative, the Carbon Initiative, cyber security and more recently joining the Nuclear Enterprise Working Group and being on detail to U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstration. Hannah assesses the cost and performance of technologies that reduce the environmental climate impacts of energy and materials production. During her time at LLNL, Hannah has assessed several energy technologies and policies that focus on carbon capture, reducing life cycle emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, and those that produce negative emissions. Through these assessments she applies tools such as Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), techno-economic assessment (TEA), and energy system modeling.
Hannah received her B.A. in Engineering with a minor in Mechanical Engineering from Lafayette College and an M.S. in Project Management from George Washington University.