Dr. Michael J. Pivovaroff is program director for Golden Dome for America (GDA). In this role, he leads the laboratory’s strategy to align capabilities, expertise, and facilities in support of this national priority. He builds and sustains partnerships with industry, academia, and other DOE and DoW labs, and lead engagement with U.S. government stakeholders and sponsors. He also has appointments in the Director’s Office, serving as a senior advisor to LLNL Director’s Chief of Staff, and in the Engineering Directorate, leading the Advanced Technology department reporting to the Principal Associate Director of Engineering.

An experimental physicist, Mike has worked in the Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory complex for more than 30 years in a range of scientific and leadership roles. He has designed and deployed x-ray detectors for NASA missions, DOE light sources, biomedical applications, and high-energy physics experiments. He has also developed instrumentation and analysis capabilities for the national security space enterprise and partnered with U.S. industry on joint R&D for government sponsors.

Mike has spent most of his career at LLNL, contributing to basic research, national security applications, and the leadership of multi-disciplinary organizations. In 2014, he was named the first leader of the LLNL Director’s Initiative for Space, coordinating and expanding the Lab’s space science and security efforts. This work led to the creation of the Space Science and Security Program in 2016, which he led as inaugural program leader. From 2020 to 2022, Mike served as associate Laboratory director for Technology Innovation at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and he returned to LLNL in 2023 as associate deputy director for Science and Technology.

He remains active in the scientific and academic communities through authorship of over 170 publications and participation in review panels for DOE, NASA, and the National Science Foundation. He was named a senior member of SPIE in 2015 for his contributions to reflective x-ray optics and was selected for LLNL’s Early and Mid-Career Recognition Program in 2017. His additional honors include four NASA awards and a fellowship from the Scowcroft Institute at Texas A&M University.

Mike earned a B.A. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a graduate certificate in national security affairs from Texas A&M University.

PhD, Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000

BA, Physics, University of California, Berkeley, 1993

Certificate, National Security Affairs, Texas A&M, 2010

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