Dr. Michael Witherell is Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and is a leading physicist with a highly distinguished career in teaching, research, and managing complex organizations. 

Dr. Witherell previously served as Vice Chancellor for Research for the University of California, Santa Barbara from 2005 to 2014, during which time he was also the Presidential Chair of the Physics Department. From 1999 to 2005, he served as Director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), the largest particle physics laboratory in the country. From 1981 to 1999, he was a faculty member in the UCSB physics department. 

Dr. Witherell is the recipient of the American Physical Society’s W. K. H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics. He is a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has served on numerous boards, including as a member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Committee on Science, Engineering, Medicine, and Public Policy (2016-2019). He currently serves on the National Academies of Science Council and is a National Research Council Governing Board member. 

Dr. Witherell received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1973 and his Bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1968.