Two Sandians honored at annual SWE awards
Sandia scientists Blythe Clark and Karen Devine were honored at the 2019 Society of Women Engineers awards ceremony in Anaheim, California. The annual event recognizes “the successes of individuals who enhance the engineering profession and advocate for women in engineering through contributions to industry, education and the community.”
New wind technology breathes life into turbine siting
Sandia researchers Chris Kelley and David Maniaci and former Sandian Brian R. Resor have developed a wind turbine blade design that would allow for the closer placement of turbines, thanks to a faster dissipating wake.
State of the Labs
Labs Director Steve Younger gave his annual State of the Labs address on Oct. 30, encouraging Sandians to pause and think about what we’ve accomplished and where Sandia is headed. He described numerous accomplishments and praised Labs employees for taking intellectual leadership in defining the future of nuclear deterrence.
Power plants get watered down
Electricity production is one of the industries that uses the most water in the country each day. Sandia researchers are helping the largest power plant in the U.S. identify the most efficient and cost-effective strategies to reduce water use. They have developed a first-of-its-kind comprehensive system dynamics analysis that can show power plants which wet cooling systems can save them money.
Internships fuel research for Puerto Rico engineering students
The NNSA-sponsored Consortium for Integrating Energy Systems in Engineering and Science Education internship program connects engineering students from five Hispanic-serving institutions, including UPRM, with research at Sandia and the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, West Virginia.
‘I do have a place’
Sherralyn Sneezer is one of four students who interned at Sandia this summer through the DOE Indian Energy Internship Program. As we observe Native American Heritage Month this November, the Lab News spoke with Sherry about her experience at Sandia and her plans for the future.
R&D 100
The venerable R&D 100 contest, slightly more than 50 years old, has a new owner, and the competition continues. Competing in an international pool of universities, corporations and government labs, Sandia inventions captured four R&D 100 Awards this year, as well as two environmental and one business award.
Fuel property put to the test at Sandia’s CRF
Researchers at Sandia’s Combustion Research Facility are working to understand the fundamentals of phi-sensitivity, a key fuel property that represents how the autoignition reactivity of the fuel varies with the fuel/air equivalence ratio. This will help increase the efficiency and facilitate the development of practical low-temperature gasoline combustion engines.
Labs historian Rebecca Ullrich presents 70 years of Sandia
As part Sandia’s 70th anniversary celebration, Labs employees were treated to an insightful, humorous and engaging presentation, “70 years of Sandia: How did we get here?” by Sandia historian Rebecca Ullrich. During the presentation, Rebecca described the Labs’ path from its beginnings as part of Los Alamos National Laboratory to the launch of Sandia Corporation and the Albuquerque campus to the expansion of the Labs to its current state.
Exceptional service in the national interest
Two dates are well known to Sandians: the day President Harry Truman wrote a letter calling for “exceptional service in the national interest” and the day Sandia (previously Z Division) separated from its parent, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and became the entity we know it as today.