A Scientist and a Steward

A liberal arts education propelled Brett Isselhardt ’03 to a career in national security science. A staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the East Bay Area, he specializes in analyzing nuclear materials to support nonproliferation, forensics and energy research. He earned a doctorate in nuclear engineering from UC Berkeley after majoring in physics at Westmont. He says the breadth of the college curriculum shaped his professional approach and honed his communication skills.

“Many of my partners and sponsors come from business or international relations — not science — so I have to think carefully about how to frame our work,” he says.

At Westmont, he developed the ability to translate complex ideas, especially through his collaboration with a consortium of researchers at Michigan State University’s National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. “That’s where I got my first inkling of what big science looked like,” he says.

It also helped him land an internship at Livermore. He considers his career in nuclear physics as stewardship of a high-stakes discovery. “We opened Pandora’s box with nuclear energy and nuclear weapons,” he says. “I appreciate the opportunity to make an impact in the field.”

Brett helped establish a cutting-edge facility using resonance ionization mass spectrometry to analyze nuclear material more efficiently and with smaller samples. His work contributes to understanding the history and origin of nuclear materials, a key component in global security efforts.

“I’m blown away by the intricacy of nature and creation and how things are made, how they work, and how we can understand and apply that knowledge for our good.”

In recent years, he has expanded his research to include modernizing laser-based isotope separation, a technology with applications in energy production and medicine. He now leads large, collaborative teams working to apply new capabilities from research to real-world situations.

Brett says his faith informs his leadership, and he cares for colleagues as people, not just scientists. He finds inspiration in the precision and
complexity of the natural world. “I’m blown away by the intricacy of nature and creation and how things are made, how they work, and how we can understand and apply that knowledge for our good,” he says.

Brett and his wife, Kelly Thoresen Isselhardt ’03, live in Livermore with their three teenaged children and attend Valley Community Church in Pleasanton.