Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Laboratory conducts national security research, particularly nuclear weapons development and stockpile stewardship, alongside work in supercomputing, materials science, bioscience, renewable energy and space exploration. Located in northern New Mexico, it is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratory system under National Nuclear Security Administration oversight. Businesses can connect with its researchers and technical expertise through the Richard P. Feynman Center for Innovation, while New Mexico LEEP pairs deep-tech entrepreneurs with laboratory mentorship and resources through a two-year fellowship.

Established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, Los Alamos had J. Robert Oppenheimer as its founding director. Today, Thomas (Thom) Mason directs the laboratory and serves as president and CEO of Triad National Security, its management and operating contractor. Its computational research helped establish nonlinear science: the Fermi–Pasta–Ulam–Tsingou simulations revealed unexpected recurrence in nonlinear systems, while Mitchell Feigenbaum’s work showed that different dynamical systems can share universal patterns in their transition to chaos.

For FY2025, the laboratory reported a $5.28 billion annual budget and 16,487 regular employees, with $2.04 billion in salaries. It also spent $752.5 million with New Mexico businesses. Laboratory-supported small-business assistance programs conducted 326 projects and helped create or retain 644 jobs outside the laboratory.