Biden nominates Jill Hruby as under secretary at NNSA

President Joe Biden nominated Jill Hruby as under secretary for nuclear security and administrator of the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.

Hruby is a mechanical engineer who joined Sandia National Laboratories as a member of the technical staff in 1983 and retired as its director in 2017. She was the first woman to lead a national lab. During her 34 years at Sandia, Hruby held roles related to nuclear weapons systems and component design, nuclear non-proliferation, defense and homeland security technologies and systems, renewable energy, materials science, engineering sciences, and microsystems technology.

Since she retired from Sandia, Hruby served as the inaugural Sam Nunn Distinguished Fellow at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) from 2018-2019. She has also been a member of the Defense Science Board, the National Nuclear Security Administration Defense Programs Advisory Committee, and the National Academy of Science Committee for International Security and Arms Control.

NTI endorsed Hruby’s nomination for this position in the Biden Administration.

“It’s hard to imagine a better candidate: an experienced leader deeply invested in how the Department of Energy and NNSA contribute to U.S. national security, a proven manager whose thorough understanding of the weapons laboratories will enable her to guide and oversee their work and a scientist with a deep technical background, who can communicate as easily with engineers and scientists, as with policymakers and the public,” NTI leaders Ernest Moniz, Sam Nunn, and Joan Rohlfing said. “We are enormously grateful for her work with NTI and are proud to strongly endorse her nomination.”

Hruby earned her bachelor’s degree from Purdue University and her master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley, both in mechanical engineering. She has received several awards, including the Suzanne Jenniches Upward Mobility Award from the Society of Women Engineers, Department of Energy Secretary’s Exceptional Service Award, the National Nuclear Security Administrator’s Distinguished Service Gold Award, and Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service.