Rick Perry thanks employees for national service

Energy Secretary Rick Perry emphatically thanked Sandia employees for their contributions to science and issues of national and international security, equating research to public service during a visit to the Labs on Oct. 9.

Labs Director signs annual assessment letter

In late September, Sandia President and Laboratories Director Steve Younger signed Sandia’s annual assessment letter. Each year, Sandia assesses the safety, reliability and performance aspects of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile for which it has responsibility.

Six join ranks of Labs Fellows

Sandia has appointed six technically outstanding researchers to the extraordinary position of Fellow. The new appointees, from a wide variety of backgrounds, include the first female Sandia Fellow, Katherine Hansen Simonson, and the first Hispanic Sandia Fellow, Gil Herrera.

Sandia Labs names first Jill Hruby Fellows

Mercedes Taylor and Chen Wang are Sandia’s first Jill Hruby Fellows. The honorees have each been awarded a three-year postdoctoral fellowship in technical leadership, comprising national security-relevant research with an executive mentor.

Jackie Chen elected fellow of the American Physical Society

Jackie Chen has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society, an honor afforded each year to no more than one-half percent of society members. She was honored “for fundamental insights into turbulence-chemistry interactions revealed through massively parallel direct numerical simulations.”

Raising the visibility of women in computational mechanics

Rekha Rao, a chemical engineer in the Engineering Sciences Center, recaps her experience at a computational mechanics conference that led her to think more deeply about how we support and mentor researchers in all fields at Sandia, but especially women and minorities.

Second act: Sandia retirees band together to help small businesses with tech challenges

Technology Retirees Economic Catalysts, established in 2015 to connect Sandia retirees with small businesses that need technical and other expertise. TREC was launched when Technology Ventures Corp. asked Ron Moya, a retired mechanical engineer, to flesh out an idea he had to engage the Labs retiree community in economic development.

Nobel Laureate underscores CINT annual meeting

Nobel laureate Sir Fraser Stoddart gave the plenary address at the annual meeting of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, which took place Sept. 24-25 in Santa Fe. This year’s conference highlighted research performed by the CINT user community in the areas of quantum materials, nano-mechanics and imaging.

In case of emergency: Urban Shield 2018

The emergency response exercise is part training and part competition among 35 local, state, national and international SWAT teams. This year’s exercise included groups from Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Las Vegas and the California Highway Patrol, along with 31 Bay Area SWAT teams.

Sandia helps girls develop a taste for STEM subjects

The 2018 San Joaquin Expanding Your Horizons conference assembled 550 girls in the 6th through 12th grades to encourage interest in science, technology, engineering and math. The girls came from nearby San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties to attend the Sept. 22 conference at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.