Kristin Omberg

Kristin Omberg joined Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in 2015. She is the group leader of the Chemical and Biological Signatures Group, which comprises about 60 researchers working to develop and integrate experimental and data analytics techniques spanning chemistry, biology, and advanced materials to identify and solve scientific challenges of national security importance and address emerging threats. Omberg’s technical work focuses on developing science and technology solutions that can be deployed in operational environments or used to inform policy decisions. She recently led the team that established a Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments certified high-complexity testing laboratory to process COVID-19 specimens at PNNL and worked with the Departments of Energy and Health and Human Services to evaluate methods for COVID-19 specimen analysis. She is currently supporting the National Nuclear Security Administration in developing its Bioassurance Program.

Before joining PNNL, she spent more than 15 years at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she was a program manager and principal investigator for numerous projects for the Department of Homeland Security and Defense. She led field experiments and operational deployments involving environmental sampling for biological agents, investigated the persistence, fate, and transport of chemical and bioterrorism agents in outdoor environments; and developed statistically based methods for evaluating detection protocols.