Ibo Matthews

Dr. Manyalibo (“Ibo”) Matthews leads the Materials Science Division (MSD) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where he oversees an organization of more than 550 staff. The division is organized into 22 scientific capability groups, who together execute research and development projects to support a multitude of LLNL’s science and technology missions. The division’s research includes synthesis and the development of tools to study energetic materials, optical materials, quantum materials, materials for energy applications, ceramics, actinides, and materials for extreme environments.

Prior to taking on the division leader role in 2021, Matthews served as a group leader in MSD, which is part of LLNL’s Physical and Life Sciences Directorate. He also served as a program group leader in LLNL’s National Ignition Facility and Photon Science Directorate, where he led a team of 40 staff charged with developing new methods in laser materials processing and studying laser-matter interactions in a variety of materials. His research interests include understanding and optimizing metal 3D printing processes, laser materials processing, high-power-laser damage mechanisms, laser-based nanoscale surface modification, vibrational spectroscopy, confocal microscopy, and in situ characterization of transient processes. His scientific work has been featured in more than 200 peer-reviewed publications with >18,000 citations (Google h-index=58) including more than a dozen featured covers, and in three book chapters. His technical contributions have also led to 24 U.S. patents.

Matthews is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, Fellow of the Optical Society of America (Optica) and an alumnus of the Frontiers of Engineering Program, sponsored by the National Academy of Engineering. In 2022 he was recognized as one of Electro Optic’s “Photonics100” innovators.  Matthews has served on several advisory boards including the National Science Foundation, Los Alamos National Laboratory, UC Berkeley’s National Nuclear Science Consortium, University of Illinois’s Chicago/DOE Alliance Center and Norfolk State University.  He also regularly serves as a reviewer for several high impact journals (Nature, Science, PRL, Acta Materialia, APL) and regularly reviews both domestic and international science foundation research proposals.  In 2021- 2022, he was tasked by the lab director to lead an LLNL task force aimed at improving employee development opportunities at the Laboratory, and he continues to invest his time to develop mentorship programs and expand outreach to students at minority-serving institutions, inspiring the next generation to consider careers in science.  Matthews has directly mentored dozens of undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral and early career staff throughout his career, many of whom have excelled to become professors, group leaders or program leaders in the field.

Prior to joining LLNL in 2006, he was member of the technical staff for eight years at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey, where he developed advanced methods for optical materials characterization and led a research team in advanced broadband access networks. His work there was instrumental in developing a deeper understanding the effects of dopants in optical waveguides on residual stress and birefringence, ultimately leading to an intuitive optimization model that was used to improve optical waveguide performance.  He also made a series of high resolution, high sensitivity measurements of chemical bonding and electron density distributions in silica glass and GaN materials respectively, using a custom confocal scanning Raman microscope, that elucidated the role of defects on material properties in both materials. 

Matthews earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in experimental condensed matter physics under the direction of Prof. Mildred Dresselhaus, supported by an NSF Fellowship.  He earned his B.S. in Applied Physics with a concentration in Electrical Engineering and Electronics from the University of California at Davis.