Albuquerque native Daniel Casey has immersed himself in the world of ablators, adiabats and hydro-growth radiography.
Those scientific terms are part of the work the physicist and the 2000 Eldorado High School graduate has been doing at California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory since 2012.
And they are part of the reason he is among the winners of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers.
The award is the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government to those beginning their independent research careers and who show promise in science and technology. It was established in 1996.
Casey attended Albuquerque’s Matheson Park Elementary, Hoover Middle School, Eldorado High School and the University of New Mexico.
He received a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering from UNM in 2005 and a doctorate in plasma physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012.
Casey is “studying the properties and performance of inertial confinement fusion implosions at the National Ignition Facility,” according to a news release from the Livermore lab.
He is among 315 recipients nationwide who will be honored in a ceremony in Washington, D.C., later this year.
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