Whitley’s contributions have students reaching for the stars

Heather Whitley ’02 is part of the team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that helped achieve a historic breakthrough: fusion ignition, also described as making “stars” in the lab.

The eldest of seven children, Whitley grew up in Silver City and Roswell. She earned degrees in chemistry and French from NMSU’s College of Arts and Sciences and remains proud that one of her most-cited papers stems from her research with former Associate Professor David Smith. After NMSU, she received a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, paving the way for her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. Whitley received a Distinguished Alumni Award from NMSU in 2023.

As associate program director for high energy density science in LLNL’s Weapons Physics and Design Program, she oversees the design, execution and analysis of experiments at the National Ignition Facility. On Dec. 5, 2022, LLNL scientists successfully created a self-sustaining thermonuclear fusion reaction at NIF, mimicking the power of the sun and stars.

“By generating more fusion energy than the laser energy delivered, we were able to unlock new possibilities for experiments supporting stockpile stewardship, helping to ensure the reliability of the nation’s nuclear deterrent without underground testing,” Whitley says. “This milestone also helps to lay the foundation for fusion energy, a potential source of safe, clean and limitless power.”

Whitley and her team continue to leverage fusion ignition to support national security and strategic deterrence with cutting-edge science.

To ensure future Aggies excel in STEM, Whitley and her husband, James, established the Whitley-Kucera Endowed Scholarship in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in 2017. The funding supports scholarships for sophomore, junior and senior students majoring in chemistry or biochemistry, giving more students the opportunity to create stars in the lab, and allowing them to reach for the stars themselves.