Awards & Scholarships

Dr. Hecker is Professor (Research) in the Department of Management Science and Engineering, and Senior Fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University. He is also director emeritus at the Los Alamos National Laboratory/University of California, where he served as director from 1986-1997 and senior fellow until July 2005. He joined the Los Alamos National Laboratory as technical staff member in 1973, following a postdoctoral assignment there in 1968-1970 and a summer graduate student assignment in 1965. He served as chairman of the Center for Materials Science and division leader of the Materials Science and Technology Division before becoming director. From 1970 to 1973 he was a senior research metallurgist at the General Motors Research Laboratories. Dr. Hecker received his B.S. in metallurgy in 1965 and M.S. in metallurgy in 1967 from Case Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. in metallurgy in 1968 from Case Western Reserve University.

Dr. Hecker’s research interests include plutonium science, nuclear weapon policy and international security, nuclear security (including nonproliferation and counter terrorism), cooperative nuclear threat reduction and the global future of nuclear energy. Over the past two decades, he has fostered cooperation with the Russian and Chinese nuclear laboratories to enhance safety and security of their nuclear assets. His current interests also include the challenges of nuclear India, Pakistan, North Korea, and the nuclear aspirations of Iran. He serves as Advisor to the Board of Directors of the Nuclear Threat Initiative and on the Advisory Council of the U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation.

Dr. Hecker is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the India Institute of Metals, Fellow of the American Physical Society, Fellow of the TMS (Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials Society), Fellow of the American Society for Metals, Honorary Member of the American Ceramics Society, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

His achievements have been recognized with the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service, the Presidential Enrico Fermi Award, the American Physical Society’s Leo Szilard Prize, the American Nuclear Society's Seaborg Medal, the Department of Energy's E.O. Lawrence Award, the Los Alamos National Laboratory Medal, among other awards including the Alumni Association Gold Medal and the Undergraduate Distinguished Alumni Award from Case Western Reserve University.