Commander Larissa Cottrill is from the San Francisco Bay area. She is a 2003 graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Nuclear Engineering. She also holds a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Nuclear Engineering, a Master’s degree in Flight Test Engineering Systems from the National Test Pilot School, a Master’s degree in Space Systems Engineering from the Stevens Institute of Technology, and an advanced certification in Russian language studies from the International Language Institute.
Prior to joining the Navy, CDR Cottrill served as a Research Physicist and Department of Energy and National Science Foundation Fellow at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, specializing in high energy laser experimentation and modeling & simulation for the National Ignition Facility. She was later commissioned through Officer Candidate School in 2009 and reported onboard the USS REUBEN JAMES (FFG 57) in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where she served as the Main Propulsion Officer.
CDR Cottrill joined the Engineering Duty Officer community in 2011 at Program Management Office Strategic Systems Program (PMOSSP) where she served as the Fleet Support & Systems Engineering Section Head, as well as the Special Projects Officer for a deep ocean search and salvage operation. Following this tour, she reported to COMNAVSURFLANT, where she was the N43 Finance Lead for a billion-dollar ship maintenance budget, as well as the Type Desk Officer for the forward deployed destroyers in Rota, Spain. She went on to serve as the Integrated Combat Systems Project Officer for the USS GERALD R. FORD (CVN 78) while at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division for the installation and testing of a first of class combat system weapons suite. From there, she went on to fill several acquisition roles at Program Executive Office, Integrated Warfare Systems 2.0, Above Water Sensors, to include the Deputy Principal Assistant Program Manager for Phased Array Radars and the Principal Assistant Program Manager for Directed Energy–Laser Weapons for the ODIN and HELIOS laser weapons programs.
More recently, CDR Cottrill reported to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in 2022 and served in multiple engineering, program management, and operational roles for the NRO’s largest major systems acquisition in signals intelligence, to include the launch team for the recent launch campaign at Cape Canaveral, Florida. In October of 2024, she was selected to be the Deputy Chief Architect for the Office of Enterprise Capabilities in the NRO Front Office where she completed her tour.
Her personal decorations include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (four awards), Joint Service Achievement Medal, Navy Achievement Medal (three awards), as well as various other unit, campaign, and service awards.