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Hate to wait? Sandia looks to speed up climate research

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Presumably, Leonardo da Vinci could have saved a lot of time on his “Mona Lisa” if he had just slapped on two dots and a swoosh for a smiley face. But details take time. The same goes for running computer models and simulations. If you want oceans of calculations to study something […]

Engineering success by predicting failure

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Since people started forging and working with metal, they’ve arguably been interested in how it breaks. But only since the 1950s have scientists and engineers had a mathematical framework for using laboratory measurements of material failure to predict a structure’s resistance to cracking. “These tools work well for brittle materials, such as […]

Wrangling big data into real-time, actionable intelligence

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Social media, cameras, sensors and more generate huge amounts of data that can overwhelm analysts sifting through it all for meaningful, actionable information to provide decision-makers such as political leaders and field commanders responding to security threats. Sandia National Laboratories researchers are working to lessen that burden by developing the science to […]

Sandia research focuses on ‘switching on’ iron in clay minerals

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researchers have discovered the mechanism to “switch on” iron residing in clay mineral structures, leading to the understanding of how to make iron reactive under oxygen-free conditions. This research will help scientists understand and predict how contaminants, such as arsenic, selenium and chromium, move through the environment and enter […]

Materials’ increased capacity, efficiency could lower the bar for hydrogen technology

LIVERMORE, Calif. — Hydrogen as a carbon-free energy source could expand into a variety of sectors, including industrial processes, building heat and transportation. Currently, it powers a growing fleet of zero-emission vehicles, including trains in Germany, buses in South Korea, cars in California and forklifts worldwide. These vehicles use a fuel cell to combine hydrogen […]

American Indian Science and Engineering Society recognizes early-career Sandia engineer

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Geoscience engineer Dylan Moriarty has been named the 2019 Most Promising Engineer or Scientist by the American Indian Science and Engineering Society. The award is given to an American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, First Nations and other indigenous person of North America with less than five years of work […]

Security in a heartbeat

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A thumbprint to unlock a door. An eye scan to unlatch a vault. Both were once ideas of the future that may become things of the past if current research is successful. Sandia National Laboratories is collaborating with a New Mexico small business to test and develop a biometric security system based […]

National security chip plant gets an upgrade

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories has completed phase one of an anticipated three-year upgrade at its plant responsible for making integrated circuits, similar to computer chips. The facility is now fully compatible with industry-standard, 8-inch silicon wafers — thin, round starting materials used for making chips. Previously, Sandia used 6-inch wafers. Supporting the new […]

Sandia debuts small-business partnership program

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories today launched a mentor-protégé program to assist small business development and enhance a company’s ability to build a solid foundation to compete for larger and more federal and industry opportunities. Sandia’s mentor-protégé program was unveiled during a small-business forum at the University of New Mexico Lobo Rainforest. More than […]

Containing a nuclear accident with ground-up minerals

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories are developing a promising new way to prevent the spread of radioactive contamination and contain the hot molten mass that develops within a nuclear reactor during a catastrophic accident. During a three-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development project, a team of scientists discovered and patented a process […]

Autonomy New Mexico interns build drones to test hypersonic tech

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is developing autonomy and artificial intelligence for flight systems soaring at more than 3,800 mph. The technologies to get there will initially be tested on drones that shuffle around at about 5 mph. “We want to ensure success before we test technologies on hypersonic flights,” said Sandia manager Jay […]

Asian American conference selects Sandia researcher ‘most promising engineer’

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories researcher Stanley Chou was recently selected one of three Most Promising Engineers of the Year at the 2019 Asian American Engineer of the Year Conference in Dallas. The AAEOY Award, first introduced in 2002, honors outstanding Asian American professionals in science and engineering for their technical achievements, leadership and […]

Seeing infrared: Sandia’s nanoantennas help detectors see more heat, less noise

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —  Sandia National Laboratories researchers have developed tiny, gold antennas to help cameras and sensors that “see” heat deliver clearer pictures of thermal infrared radiation for everything from stars and galaxies to people, buildings and items requiring security. In a Laboratory Directed Research and Development project, a team of researchers developed a nanoantenna-enabled […]

Sandia experiments at temperature of sun offer solutions to solar model problems

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Experimenting at 4.1 million degrees Fahrenheit, physicists at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z machine have found that an astronomical model — used for 40 years to predict the sun’s behavior as well as the life and death of stars — underestimates the energy blockage caused by free-floating iron atoms, a major player in […]

Sandia Labs names new leader for California site

LIVERMORE, Calif. — Sandia National Laboratories has appointed Andrew McIlroy the new associate laboratories director responsible for managing and leading Sandia’s California site in Livermore, effective immediately. McIlroy succeeds D.E. “Dori” Ellis, who was named deputy laboratories director at Sandia in late June. He has been leading the California site on an interim basis since […]