[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 128 (Wednesday, August 5, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S4472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO MIKE WITHERELL

  Mr. PADILLA. Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate Michael 
Witherell on a remarkable career spent in service of scientific 
achievement and discovery as he steps down after a decade of leadership 
as the eighth director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. As the 
Director of Berkeley Lab, Mike dedicated himself to pursuing 
transformational breakthroughs across all areas of science and helped 
its researchers deliver scientific solutions addressing critical 
national priorities.
  Mike Witherell was born on September 22, 1949, in Toledo, OH. He 
would go on to receive a bachelor of science from the University of 
Michigan in 1968. After earning his Ph.D. in experimental particle 
physics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1973, Mike served 
on the faculty at Princeton until 1981 and then found himself at the 
University of California, Santa Barbara until 1999. While working at UC 
Santa Barbara, Mike won the W. K. H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental 
Particle Physics from the American Physical Society in 1990 and was 
elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1998. After serving as 
the director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory for 6 years, 
Mike returned to UC Santa Barbara in 2005 as the vice chancellor for 
research. He was then appointed director of Lawrence Berkeley National 
Laboratory in 2016, a position he held until June of 2026.
  In his decade of service leading Berkeley Lab, Mike strengthened the 
lab's position as a world-leading institution for breakthrough science 
through significant real-world solutions in energy and pioneering 
programs in quantum informational science and artificial intelligence. 
This record of scientific excellence resulted in 31 members of the lab 
being elected to the National Academies of Science and Engineering, two 
National Medals, and three Nobel Prizes, including most recently in 
2025 for groundbreaking research in quantum computing.
  Thanks to his hard work and dedication, Berkeley Lab has contributed 
greatly to the mission of the Department of Energy, including becoming 
a core contributor to the Genesis Mission. None of these efforts would 
have been possible without the passion, vision, and excellence that 
Mike poured into the lab during his storied tenure.
  As Mike embarks on this new chapter in his life, his absence will 
undoubtedly be felt by all those fortunate enough to have collaborated 
with him. I extend my heartfelt wishes to Mike and his family for a 
joyful retirement.

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