Drive, determination and relationships
In honor of Women's History Month, Energy and Homeland Security Program Management Director Marcy Hoover describes her life and career of firsts and reflects on the importance of drive, determination and relationships in everything you do.
Legacy of learning, leading
Marvin Kelley spent 32 years of his career as a materials scientist, business specialist and technologist at Sandia/California. Now his daughter, Krystal Kelley, is building her own legacy at the Livermore campus.
With grit and determination
Army veteran Mark Small started working at Sandia as an intern through the former Wounded Warrior Career Development Program, now called the Exceptional Warrior Career Development Program. Working with Sandia mentors, he completed bachelor's and master's degrees and secured a staff position at the Labs. He is one of the program’s success stories, and he now works to recruit other veterans to Sandia.
From Afghanistan to Alaska, with atmosphere in between
For Justin LaPierre, helping maintain an atmospheric research station at the northern tip of Alaska is “eerily reminiscent” of being deployed in the deserts of Afghanistan — just much colder. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, LaPierre has worked as an observer at Oliktok Point for two years.
Q&A with Truman Fellows Thomas Hardin and Josh Rackers
Since 2004, Harry S. Truman Fellows in National Security Science and Engineering have come to Sandia each year to pursue high-risk, high-reward ideas that support the Labs’ national security mission. This year, Sandia welcomes 2020 fellows Thomas Hardin and Josh Rackers, who began their three-year postdoctoral appointments this month.
My story: Positive energy, opportunities highlight Native American Heritage Month
In honor of National Native American Heritage Month, Sandian Rachael Gutierrez shares her story of childhood visits to her relatives on the Yomba Shoshone Reservation in central Nevada. Rachael chose to study urban planning out of a desire to improve reservation life and encourage people to connect with their cultures, which led her to Sandia.
Small-business recycling ventures propelled by Sandia engineering
Through New Mexico Small Business Assistance (NMSBA), Sandia is solving technical challenges for Tucumcari Bio-Energy and, in a separate project, helping a cohort of companies led by PJ Woodlands to figure out how to market new composite materials made from forest slash.
Strongest of the strong
Tiffany Tafoya, a Sandia missile defense technologist, deadlifts cars and carries around giant heavy stones in her free time. She’s also really good at it. Tiffany trains in strongman, a weightlifting-based sport that involves physical and mental strength, speed and endurance.
Cutting it short
Diseases currently considered incurable could one day be eliminated with a single injection. New gene-editing technologies can cut disease out of a person’s DNA, but they aren’t safe to leave in the body for long, so Sandia scientists have developed a test to quickly, accurately and simultaneously screen thousands of molecules for their ability to shut down DNA-cutting proteins.
Progress toward plugging an antibiotic pump
Each year in the U.S., at least 23,000 people die from infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Using computer modeling, researchers from Sandia and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are helping to develop the means to prevent some of those deaths.