John H. Birely
Associate Vice President for Laboratory Management

John Birely became associate vice president for laboratory programs in the University of California's Laboratory Management Office in 2003. His office provides management and oversight of all programmatic and science and technology activities at three DOE laboratories: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL); and Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

Birely's career began at the University of Cambridge as a postdoctoral fellow conducting research on kinetic spectroscopy. He was Assistant Professor of Chemistry at UCLA from 1967-69, where he carried out research on supersonic molecular beam scattering. Birely worked at the Aerospace Corporation from 1969-74 where he participated in several research programs on the development and performance of sensors for detection of ballistic missile launch. Birely joined LANL in 1974, where he served in numerous positions including Deputy Leader of the Chemistry and Materials Science Division, Associate Director for Chemistry, Earth and Life Sciences, Deputy Laboratory Director, and Associate Director for Nuclear Weapons Technology. While on assignment to the Department of Defense from 1991-1994, Birely served as Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matters, Acting Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Atomic Energy, and Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Cooperative Threat Reduction. Upon retirement from LANL in 1995, Birely was a consultant to the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, LANL, LLNL, the United Kingdom Atomic Weapons Establishment and UCOP.

Birely is a member of the United States Strategic Command Strategic Advisory Group, the Defense Intelligence Agency Advisory Board, AAAS, APS and ACS.

Birely earned a BS in chemistry from Yale University, a MS in physical chemistry from UC Berkeley, and a PhD in physical chemistry from Harvard University.