ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Many medical professionals and other essential, front-line workers have struggled for the past year with persistent shortages of N95 masks. Soon, they might get relief from a Sandia National Laboratories invention — a comfortable, reusable, sterilizable respirator that could ease demand during current or future health crises. Sandia has filed for patent […]
Category Archives: Science / Technology / Engineering
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Forbes magazine again tags Sandia Labs as top large employer
March 29, 2021 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories again has been recognized by Forbes as one of the 500 Best Large Employers 2021. Sandia also won the distinction in 2017 and again in 2019, shortly after garnering a separate award as one of the magazine’s top workplaces for diversity. Forbes and the market research firm Statista conducted […]
Rare open-access quantum computer now operational
March 15, 2021 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A new Department of Energy open-access quantum computing testbed is ready for the public. Scientists from Indiana University recently became the first team to begin using Sandia National Laboratories’ Quantum Scientific Computing Open User Testbed, or QSCOUT. Quantum computers are poised to become major technological drivers over the coming decades. But to […]
Catching energy-exploration caused earthquakes before they happen
March 10, 2021 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Geoscientists at Sandia National Laboratories used 3D-printed rocks and an advanced, large-scale computer model of past earthquakes to understand and prevent earthquakes triggered by energy exploration. Injecting water underground after unconventional oil and gas extraction, commonly known as fracking, geothermal energy stimulation and carbon dioxide sequestration all can trigger earthquakes. Of course, […]
Thin explosive films provide snapshot of how detonations start
March 4, 2021 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Using thin films — no more than a few pieces of notebook paper thick — of a common explosive chemical, researchers from Sandia National Laboratories studied how small-scale explosions start and grow. Sandia is the only lab in the U.S. that can make such detonatable thin films. These experiments advanced fundamental knowledge […]
Black engineer awards expand Sandia Labs spotlight
March 3, 2021 – 11:11 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Ten Sandia National Laboratories engineers received Black Engineer of the Year Awards, including Most Promising Scientist, Modern Technology Leaders and Science Spectrum Trailblazers. Honorees include Sandia systems, chemical, computer, electrical, petroleum, manufacturing and mechanical engineers who excel in their respective fields, powering innovation while flexing their technological muscles for U.S. national security. […]
Airplanes to cellphones: New equipment finds the flaws in everything
February 17, 2021 – 5:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Tim Briggs has built a career at Sandia National Laboratories tearing and breaking things apart with his team of collaborators. Now, he’s developed a fracture-testing tool that could help make everything from aircraft structural frames to cellphones stronger. Briggs has filed a patent for a device associated with bonded structural composite materials […]
Tread tester
February 1, 2021 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Simulating how a tire’s tread, rubber and size respond to a road’s corners, angles and hills, Sandia National Laboratories and The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. have developed a virtual means of showing a tire’s performance before the first prototypes are ever built. Computer simulations test a virtual tire on a virtual […]
Giving campaigns at Sandia shine during pandemic year
January 25, 2021 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories employees came together in a big way in 2020, contributing $4.8 million to the annual Sandia Gives campaign, which benefits United Way of Central New Mexico, United Way of the Bay Area and other nonprofits, increasing donations by $324,000 over 2019. A booster from National Technology & Engineering Solutions […]
Sandia nuclear physicist selected fellow of AAAS
January 13, 2021 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Susan Seestrom, associate laboratories director for advanced science and technology and chief research officer at Sandia National Laboratories, has been named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The physicist was cited “for her pathbreaking work in nuclear physics, especially using ultra cold neutrons, and her leadership, both […]
Advanced materials in a snap
January 5, 2021 – 10:03 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — If everything moved 40,000 times faster, you could eat a fresh tomato three minutes after planting a seed. You could fly from New York to L.A. in half a second. And you’d have waited in line at airport security for that flight for 30 milliseconds. Thanks to machine learning, designing materials for […]
Sandia to put nuclear waste storage canisters to the test
December 9, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is outfitting three 22.5-ton, 16.5-feet-long stainless-steel storage canisters with heaters and instrumentation to simulate nuclear waste so researchers can study their durability. The three canisters, which arrived in mid-November and have never contained any nuclear materials, will be used to study how much salt gathers on canisters over time. […]
Materials developed at Sandia help extinguish solar panel fires before they ignite
November 19, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — As solar panels become popular and their voltages increase, there is a need to have built-in capabilities to extinguish fires caused by arc-faults, which are high-power discharges of electricity that can create explosions or flash events due to damaged wires. Sandia National Laboratories researcher Kenny Armijo has spent 10 years working alongside […]
Sandia secures six regional technology transfer awards
November 18, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — For responding with innovative solutions during the pandemic, developing solar cell and hydrogen research technology, and creatively working with companies, Sandia National Laboratories won six prestigious regional 2020 Federal Laboratory Consortium awards. The awards for the Mid-Continent and Far West regions put a spotlight on Sandia successes in transferring technology, partnerships and […]
Students of nuclear security have a problem. Here’s how to help them.
November 12, 2020 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Radioactive materials are attractive targets to thieves and other bad actors. These are rare finds, valuable on the black market and relatively easy to weaponize. New security professionals rarely learn practical skills for protecting these targets until they are on the job at nuclear power plants, research reactors, processing plants and other […]