El Capitan, the world’s most powerful supercomputer, is currently contributing to research about the nation’s nuclear capabilities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL), as well as Sandia National Laboratories in Livermore and New Mexico, and Los Alamos in New Mexico. It is also drawing student interns from local colleges and universities, including Livermore’s Las Positas College.
El Capitan is just a few months into its work. The supercomputer facilitates simulations that model and test the nation’s nuclear stockpile. The efforts are conducted by teams at all three laboratories.
“People are running simulation codes to ensure the reliability of complex systems,” said Urwah Mir, a development/operations engineer at LLNL. “El Capitan is the best fit for this job, because it can simulate complex workloads at a massive scale. When running these simulation codes, researchers can generate detailed trace files.”
A trace file is a log report that records the execution details of a program over time, which provides insight on system behavior, Mir explained. Reviewing trace files allows researchers to optimize future code runs for performance.
LLNL researchers are fixing bugs in El Capitan’s code so the machine can run models more quickly and accurately.
We have hundreds of people combined on the Livermore, Sandia and Los Alamos teams at work on this,” Mir said.
Federal staff collaborates with employees from companies that helped develop El Capitan. These include Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Red Hat Inc., an IBM subsidiary and provider of open-source software products. The goal is to get more qualified professionals on board and ramp up progress on the nuclear-stockpile project.
“That will also help us get a sense of future projects for El Capitan,” Mir said.
Student Procurement
It takes time and cooperation to engage students interested in working for the U.S. Department of Energy. LLNL took a big step to build relationships with Las Positas College’s computer science department five years ago.
“In 2020, Livermore Lab’s computing organization met with Las Positas’ computer science department to connect with students virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Jamie Lewis, a business and operations administrator at LLNL. “Our first goal was to network with students through info sessions.”
This led to LLNL’s computing organization partnering with Jeffrey Weichert, an instructor, and Moh Daoud, a professor. Both are engaged in Las Positas’s computer networking technology program.
“This relationship has been instrumental in pipelining students into Livermore Lab’s technician internship program,” said Jim Sharp, LLNL’s information technology outsourcing deputy division leader. “For the last three years, we’ve been able to hold these info sessions in person.”
LLNL’s information technology professionals initiate the process by providing Las Positas students with information about its internship program and work opportunities in computing. In 2024, the computing section’s recruiting team and additional professionals within the lab participated in nine informational and career events at the college.
LLNL staff also forged strong relationships with Kristine Vanderhoof, coordinator of the Las Positas career center, and Jean O’Neil-Opipari, coordinator of the school’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) program.
LLNL’s intern and full-time positions are not limited to those in STEM.
“I encourage Las Positas students and community members to consider positions in operations, like administrative roles, human resources and project management, as well as the trades,” Lewis said.
How Interns and El Capitan Connect
El Capitan is a classified machine, so student interns cannot work on it directly unless they possess the proper security clearance. This could be true for interns who have previously served in certain positions at the U.S. Department of Defense. Most interns get a sense of El Capitan’s potential by working in other positions at Livermore and Sandia labs, learning what code development is needed to help El Capitan run more smoothly.
The dream of developing and refining an instrument like El Capitan is a primary reason that interns come to work at U.S. Department of Energy labs.
“I started out as a Las Positas student and served as a summer intern at Livermore Lab,” Mir said. “I continued engaging in summer internships with Livermore Lab as I completed my Bachelor of Science in computer science at the University of California, Davis.”
Mir applied to become an intern after an in-person tour at LLNL.
“I am originally from Tracy,” she said. “The Tri-Valley area felt so close, but at first, I had imposter syndrome. I felt like I didn’t belong.”
Visiting the Lab gave her an opportunity to discuss cloud computing with Lab staff. That is when Mir started picturing herself as a potential member of the Lab’s team.
“The tours, the summer internship, the thrill of being part of the tech world — those are what made me want to stay and tell my peers about the opportunities here. Those things still inspire me to share about Livermore Lab,” she said.
Mir now assists with recruitment efforts in development/operations, engineering and other areas. She has two pieces of advice for computer science students. The first is to learn Linux, the open-source operating system.
“It will give you a solid foundation for picking up other skills on the job. I learned almost everything else while working. Second, find a mentor whom you can learn from and is willing to grow along with you. That’s the best way to develop,” Mir said.
Updated April 18, 2025: The story was updated to correct an inaccurate acronym for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The correct acronym is LLNL.
