A new technique using microneedles that are able to draw relatively large amounts of interstitial fluid — a liquid that lurks just under the skin and carries more immune cells than blood — could be effective in rapidly measuring exposure to chemical and biological warfare agents, as well as diagnosing cancer and other diseases.
An EMP emitted by a nuclear weapon exploded high above the U.S. could disable the electronic circuits of many devices vital to military defense and modern living. Fortunately, military equipment is designed to be immune to various levels of EMP, and the validity of those designs has been tested and improved by a “friendly” EMP generator at Sandia.
Sandia signed 42 CRADAs in fiscal year 2018, more Cooperative Research and Development Agreements than in any previous year this century, sparking dozens of new collaborations and potential technological innovations. A CRADA is an agreement between a government agency and a nonfederal entity to work together on research and development.
Sandia and Emera Technologies have signed an 18-month Cooperative Research and Development Agreement to work on microgrids, small-scale versions of interconnected electric grids that locally manage energy storage and resources such as solar, wind and thermal systems, and which may connect to a larger host grid.
The Accident Response Group provides technical expertise in assessing and safely resolving nuclear weapons accidents or "broken arrows." ARG brings together diverse experts from Sandia and other national labs, each with its own area of expertise. As the nuclear engineering lab, Sandia's focus is on the whole weapon.
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.
Four intern teams competed for eight weeks this summer in Sandia’s fourth annual Nuclear Weapons Summer Product Realization Institute. During the NW SPRINT, nontraditional teams develop innovative concepts using new technologies, and identify and address gaps in those technologies. It also serves to create a recruiting pipeline.
About 20 middle and high school students came to Sandia for Albuquerque’s first CyberPatriot Advanced CyberCamp, a weeklong cybersecurity workshop supporting the Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot program. The workshop taught students advanced security concepts and prepared them for an upcoming competition season this fall.
Sean Dunagan knows firsthand how to bring a major project back online after a three-year shutdown. Following the February 2014 events that closed the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, New Mexico, he was the senior WIPP recovery manager at DOE. Now back in Sandia’s employ, Sean manages special projects and remote site support for the Labs’ Carlsbad office.
More than 200 members of Sandia’s workforce got a realistic taste of what might happen in a shooting incident on July 25 in the annual full-scale emergency exercise at the New Mexico site.