Carol J. Burns

Carol Jean Burns is an American chemist who is deputy director of Research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her research is in actinide coordination and organometallic chemistry. She spent a term at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society. She was awarded the American Chemical Society Garvan–Olin Medal in 2021.

Early life and education Burns earned her undergraduate degree at Rice University, where she majored in chemistry. After completing her doctorate, Burns joined Los Alamos National Laboratory as a J. Robert Oppenheimer postdoctoral fellow. In 2003 she left Los Alamos to work as a policy analyst for the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Whilst at the OSTP, Burns worked on defence infrastructure and threat preparedness. Specifically, she developed the Nuclear Defence Roadmap. She was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a member of the board of directors of the California Council on Science and Technology.

In 2021, Burns was awarded the Garvan–Olin Medal of the American Chemical Society. Later that year she was made deputy director at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Selected publications