Sandia’s California site invites community to 60th anniversary celebration

LIVERMORE, Calif. –Sixty years ago, the Giants played baseball in New York and the Athletics in Kansas City, Dwight Eisenhower was president and Sandia National Laboratories opened its California site in the city of Livermore, which at the time had a population of under 10,000.

Because of Sandia’s California site and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, by 1970 the city’s population nearly quadrupled to 38,000 people. Today, Livermore is home to about 85,000 people.

“We take great pride in all that has been accomplished at this site over the last 60 years and want to share this with the community,” said Marianne Walck, vice president of Sandia’s California site and the Energy and Climate program. “This event is a chance to showcase some of the important work that happens here.”

Inside the Bankhead’s 500-seat theater, Sandia President and Labs Director Jill Hruby and Walck will speak about the history and continued impact of Sandia and the California site. The program will also feature remarks by Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., state Sen. Steve Glazer, Assemblywoman Catharine Baker, Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, Livermore Mayor John Marchand and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Deputy Director Thomas Gioconda. It will conclude with two national security speeches: Sandia systems analyst and engineer Jarret Lafleur, “The Perfect Heist,” and Cybersecurity R&D Manager Levi Lloyd, “Cybersecurity: Challenges and Opportunities in the Digital Age.”

The breadth of Sandia/California’s work will be on display in the theater lobby. Highlights include:

• An additive manufacturing display with 3-D printed memorabilia giveaways
• Visualizations of the Combustion Research Facility’s (CRF) high performance computing-enabled flame modeling and measurements
• An optical engine used in the CRF’s engine optimization research
• A photobioreactor filled with growing algae destined for biofuel and a microscope stage to show algae predators at work
• A demonstration of the SpinDx lab-on-a-disk using non-biological samples
• A cybersecurity booth featuring demonstrations of password cracking, computer forensics and encryption method comparisons
• Samples of hydrogen-embrittled metals from Sandia’s research to understand and mitigate the effects of hydrogen on different materials
• An overview of the Explosive Destruction System (EDS) including a small-scale model, examples of destroyed munitions and videos of past EDS missions
• Sandia-developed radiation detection capabilities: R&D 100 award-winning triplet-harvesting plastic scintillators and anti-neutrino reactor monitoring
• A historical overview of Sandia’s California site and its national security work
• A fuel-cell electric vehicle, courtesy of the California Fuel Cell Partnership, and the Fuel Cell Mobile Light, courtesy of Altergy. (Outside in front of the Bankhead Theater.)

The event also will showcase Sandia’s education outreach programs with hands-on scientific activities from Family Science Night and Expanding Your Horizons volunteers. Students from Livermore High School and Mendenhall Middle School will display their engineering projects.

The human resources department will present another aspect of Sandia’s California site — as a workplace. Recruiters will be on hand to share Sandia careers and job opportunities.

“We are fortunate to work in such an incredible place full of natural beauty, wonderful people, history and a vibrant economy,” said Walck. “We invite the community to share in the celebration of Sandia/California’s first 60 years and what we hope to achieve in the next 60 years and beyond.”

For more information, see ca60.sandia.gov.