Dr. Laura Biedermann is a physicist in the Ceramics and Materials Physics department at Sandia National Laboratories. In her 15 years at Sandia, her research has impacted energy and water security, nuclear deterrence, and electronic materials development. In 2021, Laura earned a Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Spark Award, which recognizes individuals who have contributed significantly to the advancement of women through mentoring those around them. From 2021—2023 she was a member of the Program on Nuclear Issues (PONI) Mid-Career Cadre sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Laura participated in PONI’s international exchanges on nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear security. Laura leads an ARPA-E ULTRAFAST project to develop nanosecond-responsive surge arresters to protect the electrical grid from electrical transients that may arise from benign switching events, insulation faults, or high-altitude nuclear detonations. These surge arresters will take advantage of the properties of granular metals—a composition of metal nanoparticles within an insulating matrix—to divert sudden and short-lived high-voltage and high-current surges of energy safely away from the grid. Laura’s team has developed novel silicon-nitride based granular metals where the high dielectric strength of silicon nitride supports high voltage operation. These granular metals have an extraordinary non-linear frequency response, critical for operation faster than the existing grid-scale lightning surge arresters.