Marianne Walck

Marianne C. Walck is the Chief Research Officer at the Idaho National Laboratory. She previously served as Vice President of the Sandia National Laboratories, where she led nuclear weapons stewardship.

Walck studied physics at Hope College, which she graduated in 1978. She earned a master's degree in geophysics at the California Institute of Technology. For her doctorate, Walck worked on teleseismic array analysis with Robert Clayton and David Harkrider. Her research considered subsurface energy sources and treaty verification.

Walk joined Sandia National Laboratories in 1984. During this time, she served as manager of the Geophysics Department. She monitored subsurface processes using microseismic monitoring. She was responsible for the nuclear weapons stewardship and national security. She was responsible for five research and development groups, where she worked on a range of topics including civilian nuclear power and the transportation of nuclear waste. This involved studies for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, where she assessed the vulnerabilities of nuclear power plants to terrorist attacks. Her efforts were used during the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. She also served as Associate Director of the United States Department of Energy Center for Frontiers of Energy Security.

She led the Energy and Climate program, which looked at renewable energy, transportation energy systems and the nuclear fuel cycle. She was made Associate Director of CFSES, the Center for Frontiers of Subsurface Energy Security, a collaboration between the University of Texas at Austin and Sandia National Laboratories. In 2015 she was named the Vice President of Sandia National Laboratories.

Walck retired from Sandia National Laboratories in 2017. She was announced the Director of the Idaho National Laboratory in 2018. In this capacity, she leads research, science and technology. She is a Senior Fellow of the California Council on Science and Technology.

Walck is married with two children. She is a violinist in her local community orchestra.