# Persson Group Handbook

This website serves as the group handbook for the [**Persson Group**](http://perssongroup.lbl.gov) at the University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. 

The purpose of this handbook is to:

1\) serve as a living repository for knowledge within the group

2\) assist new group members in onboarding

While the Onboarding Guides and the Group Librarian have the ultimate responsibility of overseeing the handbook (see [Group Jobs](/persson-group-handbook/group-resources/group-jobs.md)), maintaining and improving the group handbook is the responsibility of all group members. Our newest group members often have the most valuable insight in improving the onboarding process and where there may be critical gaps in the handbook. Please see [Contributing](/persson-group-handbook/group-resources/contributing.md) for guidelines on making contributions. Note that the handbook can be dynamically searched from within the group Slack by writing `/gitbook SEARCH_QUERY`.

We would like to especially thank Anubhav Jain, whose wonderful group handbook ([Jain Group Handbook](https://hackingmaterials.gitbook.io/hm-handbook/)) inspired much of the content you see here. 

## About the Group

<figure><img src="/files/oYds4JDUi1vQ3fMgkOUl" alt=""><figcaption><p>The Persson Group in front of our office, Building 33 at Berkeley Lab. Photo taken March 2025.</p></figcaption></figure>

Our group studies the physics and chemistry of materials using atomistic computational methods and high-performance computing technology. Most of our research is focused on materials for energy applications, such as battery electrode materials, electrolytes, photocatalysts, thermoelectrics, etc. We are co-located at **Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)** and the **University of California, Berkeley**, just down the hill from the Lab. Our main workspaces are located at LBNL, but we have a number of additional desks available on campus for students to use in between classes, which are located in the Graduate Student Bay of Hearst Memorial Mining Building (HMMB).&#x20;

### Group events

Some of the regular things we do as a group are:

* **Happy Hour.** We meet up for food & drinks most Thursday evenings.
* **Group retreats/outings**. Past activities include "beach olympics", Halloween costume parties, paintball, cardboard boat races in Kristin's pool, picnics, trips to SF, and more!
* **Group Time.** A meeting every other week hosted by members of the group that covers important topics within our Group Agreements.
* **Birthday celebrations.** We celebrate birthdays in the group at our big group meeting.
* **Farewell dinners.** We celebrate group members who are graduating or leaving the group.
* **Winter holiday party.** This is often a joint party with the Ceder Group.


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