David E. Chavez, PhD

Scientist 5, Los Alamos National Laboratory

David E. Chavez is a Deputy Group Leader and scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory where he studies the development of novel high-energy materials. Chavez received his BS with honor in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and his PhD in Chemistry from Harvard University (as a National Science Foundation and Beinecke Memorial predoctoral fellow). He joined LANL as a Frederick Reines Distinguished Fellow and converted to staff scientist in 2006. He is an invited Professor at the Ecole Normale Superieure, in Cachan, France, an adjunct chemistry professor at New Mexico Tech and the University of New Mexico, Taos Branch. He is a LANL Fellow, a Distinguished Alumnus of the California Institute of Technology, a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a Fellow of the American Chemical Society, and is an Editorial Advisory Board Member of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.  He has also been recognized with the Department of Energy E. O. Lawrence Award and the LANL Fellows Prize for Research. He was a member of the Board of Trustees for Caltech, where he served on the following Committees: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Student Experience Committee and the Technology Transfer Committee.  Recently he served on the review panel for the DoD ARAP EEE program and on the DoD Board on Army RDT&E, Systems Acquisition and Logistics (BARSL) Energetic Materials. He has published 85 papers in the areas of organic chemistry and energetic materials synthesis (6440 citations, H-index = 40), holds 13 patents in energetic materials and pyrotechnics and has participated in 45 invited lectures. He also served on numerous non-profit boards including the Taos Municipal School Board of Education, the Advisory board for University of New Mexico-Taos campus, both in his hometown of Taos, New Mexico for 9 years, and the National Math and Science Initiative.