Robert Leland

Biography

As Director of the Climate Change Security Center at Sandia National Laboratories, Robert Leland leads climate strategy development across the Labs; directs the Earth Sciences Research Foundation; and oversees laboratory and field work in New Mexico, Texas, and Alaska. The Center includes Sandia’s Renewable Energy and Earth Sciences research groups. Rob also serves as Program Area Director for the Renewable and Fossil Energy Program within Sandia’s Energy and Homeland Security Portfolio, and lead for Office of Science programs in climate and geosciences.

Rob joined Sandia in 1990 as a high-performance computing researcher. He coauthored Chaco, a software toolkit widely used to optimize supercomputer performance. In 1995, Rob served as a White House Fellow in the Treasury Department, helping the Internal Revenue Service revamp a multibillion-dollar information technology modernization effort affecting all taxpayers.

Rob’s management positions at Sandia included Director of Computing Research, Director of Computing and Network Services, and Director of Climate Security. He advanced capabilities critical to Sandia’s nuclear deterrence mission, led development of the Labs’ strategy to provide national-level thought leadership in cybersecurity, co-led the proposal to recapitalize Sandia’s trusted microelectronics fabrication capability, and initiated the Labs’ program to address the national security implications of climate change. In 2014, Rob worked at the White House in the Office of Science and Technology Policy leading development of the National Strategic Computing Initiative to sustain U.S. leadership in supercomputing.

Rob then served as Sandia’s Vice President for Science and Technology and Chief Technology Officer. He led the Labs’ research organization, overseeing research strategy, Laboratory Directed Research and Development, public and private research partnerships, tech transfer, and research compliance.

In 2017, Rob entered the National Renewable Energy Laboratory as Associate Lab Director for Scientific Computing and Energy Analysis and focused on accelerating the transformation of the nation’s energy infrastructure through systems analysis and advanced computing. Rob returned to Sandia in 2021.

Rob has a PhD in applied mathematics from Oxford University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University.

Publications