Raeanna Sharp-Geiger appointed Argonne’s Chief Operations Officer

Sharp-Geiger to lead operations strategy at the multidisciplinary Department of Energy national laboratory.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has named Raeanna Sharp-Geiger as chief operations officer. Sharp-Geiger begins her new role on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, leading Argonne’s operational strategy, excellence, modernization and innovation.

Sharp-Geiger joins Argonne from DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. In her role as the chief operating officer for Physical Sciences at Los Alamos, she oversaw the advancement, improvement and direction of operational activities enabling fundamental and applied science and engineering for the lab’s national security mission.

Sharp-Geiger has a proven record of successful administration of major facilities and organizational programs. While at Los Alamos, she led the operations management of hazard category 2 and 3 nuclear facilities; nuclear waste facilities, and the lab’s three national user facilities: the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a DOE Nanoscale Science Research Center and User Facility, and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. Her organizational oversight allowed Los Alamos staff to achieve their mission in the areas of homeland security, material discovery, nuclear physics and energy security. She will leverage this extensive experience in her new role.

“Argonne has a strong history of operational excellence, and I’m excited to lead its continued growth, modernization, and innovation,” said Sharp-Geiger. ​“Our efforts will enable the laboratory to continue to open new frontiers for discovery and applied science.”

Prior to her current role, Sharp-Geiger served several other positions at Los Alamos, such as the deputy associate director for operations for Threat Identification and Response; deputy associate director for Environment, Safety and Health; facility operations director for Weapons Facilities; deputy/facility operations director for Environmental Waste Management Operations; and deputy facility operations manager for Materials and Chemistry Facility Operations.

“Rae has the management experience that Argonne needs to maintain its long record of achieving pivotal discoveries, expanding scientific leadership and providing cutting-edge technology at scale,” said Argonne Director Paul Kearns. ​“We are nearing the completion of the construction of the Aurora exascale supercomputer and the upgraded Advanced Photon Source, which when combined will transform how we do science. Rae’s background will enable these powerhouse research tools and our other cutting-edge facilities. Her dedication to developing operations professionals and innovative teams will help us keep accelerating the science that drives U.S. prosperity and security.”

About the Advanced Photon Source

The U. S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory is one of the world’s most productive X-ray light source facilities. The APS provides high-brightness X-ray beams to a diverse community of researchers in materials science, chemistry, condensed matter physics, the life and environmental sciences, and applied research. These X-rays are ideally suited for explorations of materials and biological structures; elemental distribution; chemical, magnetic, electronic states; and a wide range of technologically important engineering systems from batteries to fuel injector sprays, all of which are the foundations of our nation’s economic, technological, and physical well-being. Each year, more than 5,000 researchers use the APS to produce over 2,000 publications detailing impactful discoveries, and solve more vital biological protein structures than users of any other X-ray light source research facility. APS scientists and engineers innovate technology that is at the heart of advancing accelerator and light-source operations. This includes the insertion devices that produce extreme-brightness X-rays prized by researchers, lenses that focus the X-rays down to a few nanometers, instrumentation that maximizes the way the X-rays interact with samples being studied, and software that gathers and manages the massive quantity of data resulting from discovery research at the APS.

This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.