Alex Morehead – NERSC / SciData AILearn Group

• What do I do at LBL? I work with Michael Mahoney (UCB, LBL, ICSI) and Ben Erichson (LBL, ICSI) on developing the Zatom (pronounced “zah-tum”) family of scientific (atomistic) foundation models.

Pronouns: He, him, his

ORCID: 0000-0002-0586-6191

Website: amorehead.github.io

GitHub: github.com/amorehead

Selected Education: PhD in Computer Science, University of Missouri, 2025

Current Position: Hopper Postdoctoral Fellow in CS, LBL, 2025-Present

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2026 CS Summer Program

Alex Morehead – NERSC / SciData AILearn Group

• What do I do at LBL? I work with Michael Mahoney (UCB, LBL, ICSI) and Ben Erichson (LBL, ICSI) on developing the Zatom (pronounced “zah-tum”) family of scientific (atomistic) foundation models.
• How did I become interested in my field of study? I enjoyed experimenting with open-source software early on, and pairing that interest with computational science (e.g., CompBio) / machine learning (ML) to maximize impact in science/drug discovery gradually became a natural fit.

Pronouns: He, him, his

ORCID: 0000-0002-0586-6191

Website: amorehead.github.io

GitHub: github.com/amorehead

Selected Education: PhD in Computer Science, University of Missouri, 2025

Current Position: Hopper Postdoctoral Fellow in CS, LBL, 2025-Present

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2026 CS Summer Program

Alex Morehead – NERSC / SciData AILearn Group

• What do I do at LBL? I work with Michael Mahoney (UCB, LBL, ICSI) and Ben Erichson (LBL, ICSI) on developing the Zatom (pronounced “zah-tum”) family of scientific (atomistic) foundation models.
• How did I become interested in my field of study? I enjoyed experimenting with open-source software early on, and pairing that interest with computational science (e.g., CompBio) / machine learning (ML) to maximize impact in science/drug discovery gradually became a natural fit.
• What qualifications were required for my career step? An ML/computational science PhD.

Pronouns: He, him, his

ORCID: 0000-0002-0586-6191

Website: amorehead.github.io

GitHub: github.com/amorehead

Selected Education: PhD in Computer Science, University of Missouri, 2025

Current Position: Hopper Postdoctoral Fellow in CS, LBL, 2025-Present

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2026 CS Summer Program

Alex Morehead – NERSC / SciData AILearn Group

• What do I do at LBL? I work with Michael Mahoney (UCB, LBL, ICSI) and Ben Erichson (LBL, ICSI) on developing the Zatom (pronounced “zah-tum”) family of scientific (atomistic) foundation models.
• How did I become interested in my field of study? I enjoyed experimenting with open-source software early on, and pairing that interest with computational science (e.g., CompBio) / machine learning (ML) to maximize impact in science/drug discovery gradually became a natural fit.
• What qualifications were required for my career step? An ML/computational science PhD.
• How did I get to where I am now, and what other options were there? I set goals for myself early on in undergraduate/graduate school to publish the best research possible given my personal set of life circumstances. Conference networking opened the door to several industry internships and startup opportunities, yet ultimately, open-source science has motivated me the most to date.

Pronouns: He, him, his

ORCID: 0000-0002-0586-6191

Website: amorehead.github.io

GitHub: github.com/amorehead

Selected Education: PhD in Computer Science, University of Missouri, 2025

Current Position: Hopper Postdoctoral Fellow in CS, LBL, 2025-Present

​

​

2026 CS Summer Program

Alex Morehead – NERSC / SciData AILearn Group

• What do I do at LBL? I work with Michael Mahoney (UCB, LBL, ICSI) and Ben Erichson (LBL, ICSI) on developing the Zatom (pronounced “zah-tum”) family of scientific (atomistic) foundation models.
• How did I become interested in my field of study? I enjoyed experimenting with open-source software early on, and pairing that interest with computational science (e.g., CompBio) / machine learning (ML) to maximize impact in science/drug discovery gradually became a natural fit.
• What qualifications were required for my career step? An ML/computational science PhD.
• How did I get to where I am now, and what other options were there? I set goals for myself early on in undergraduate/graduate school to publish the best research possible given my personal set of life circumstances. Conference networking opened the door to several industry internships and startup opportunities, yet ultimately, open-source science has motivated me the most to date.
• General career advice: (1) Take my advice with a grain of salt. (2) Learn and master “horizontal” scientific skills (think core mathematics techniques, like multivariate calculus, linear algebra, probability theory, data science, machine/deep learning). (3) Dive deep into at least one (scientific) area (e.g., biology, physics), and hone your data science/machine learning skills by working in that area over time. (4) Lead a few research projects in that area and publish/present your results at well-known conferences/venues. (5) Don’t prematurely optimize for that one area: try doing some (e.g., machine learning) internships in related but different areas to learn what types of problems others are interested in. (6) Once you are comfortable working in your original area, try out a new related area (e.g., chemistry), and repeat steps (3-6). 😀

Pronouns: He, him, his

ORCID: 0000-0002-0586-6191

Website: amorehead.github.io

GitHub: github.com/amorehead

Selected Education: PhD in Computer Science, University of Missouri, 2025

Current Position: Hopper Postdoctoral Fellow in CS, LBL, 2025-Present

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2026 CS Summer Program