Media: please reach out to cisacevents@stanford.edu

About the Event 

Jill Hruby will be this year's Drell Lecturer presenting on, "The Future of Nuclear Deterrence". The Drell Lecture is an annual public event sponsored by CISAC. By tradition, the Drell lecturer addresses a current and critical national or international security issue that has important scientific or technical dimensions.

About the Speaker

Jill Hruby served as the Under Secretary for Nuclear Security at the Department of Energy and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration from July 2021 to January 2025.  Since early 2025, Jill has joined the Lawrence Livermore Board, the Anthropic National Security and Public Sector Advisory Committee, the Science and Security Advisory Board for the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, and will join the Atomic Weapons Establishment Board in January 2026.

Prior to being a political appointee, Hruby had a 34-year career at Sandia National Laboratories retiring in 2017 as the Laboratories Director. At Sandia, Hruby held roles of increasing responsibilities in 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.

After retiring from Sandia, Hruby served as the inaugural Sam Nunn Distinguished Fellow at the Nuclear Threat Initiative from 2018-2019 and continued as a nonresident Distinguished Fellow until her appointment. In addition, she was a member of the Defense Science Board and the National Academy Committee for International Security and Arms Control. 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 honorary doctorate degrees from Purdue University and Michigan State University. In 2022, she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Jill has received the 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.

Please join us for refreshments in Oksenberg Hall following the conclusion of the lecture from 5:00 - 6:00 PM.  All CISAC events are scheduled using the Pacific Time Zone.