Richard P. Feynman Center for Innovation at Los Alamos National Laboratory
Antonio Redondo received a B.Sc. in Physics from Utah State University in 1971 and M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1972 and 1977, respectively. After finishing his Ph.D., he became a physics professor at the University of the Andes, in Venezuela. In late 1980, he returned to Caltech, where he was a research associate, investigating semiconductor surfaces and interfaces. He came to Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Technical Staff Member in the Electronics and Electrochemical Materials and Devices Group in 1983 where he worked as a theoretical scientist with experimentalists studying electrochemical fuel cells, conducting polymers and semiconductor devices. He has led a team of scientists at Los Alamos to design a catalytic converter for a new generation of green automobiles. This project involved collaborations with three other national laboratories and the research organizations at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. In March 1997, Redondo received a Medal for Technical Accomplishment from Vice President Al Gore for his contributions to this project. The work in catalysis continued with several projects involving the petroleum and chemical industry. He researched catalysts for the conversion of crude oil to gasoline as well as for the efficient production of plastics and raw materials from natural gas. He joined the Theoretical Division in 1994 as Group Leader of the Theoretical Chemistry and Molecular Physics Group. There, he continued to carry out theoretical studies of catalysts, materials properties and aging.
After 2000, Dr. Redondo started to work on theoretical biology problems, particularly cell signaling and immunology. In 2005, he became the Group Leader of the Theoretical Biology and Biophysics Group, also in the Theoretical Division. In June 2006, he was appointed to lead the Theoretical Division. During his tenure in the Theoretical Division he continued to do research in materials and fluid dynamics, starting a 20-year collaboration with Procter and Gamble studying the properties of colloidal systems such as fabric enhancers (Downy) and shampoo (Head and Shoulders). In 2015, he decided to go back to full-time research and was appointed Senior Scientist in the Theory, Simulation and Computation Directorate. At this time, he started a collaboration with Mars, Inc. to model the coating of M&Ms and Skittles with the purpose of understanding how to reduce the time and increase the efficiency of the coating process. Redondo is an Adjunct Professor in the Computational Science Research Center at San Diego State University, the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of California at Davis and in the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of California at Santa Barbara (2006-2010). He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the World Technology Network. His recent interests in research have focused on modeling soft matter and fluid systems. In February 2018, he was appointed head of the Richard P. Feynman Center for Innovation, the organization at Los Alamos National Laboratory in charge of technology transfer and regional development.