Fields of gold
Jennifer Payne is a Sandia ecologist who stabilizes degraded lands. She is also one of two Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioners in New Mexico, a title held by only 150 people in the country. As an ecologist who specializes in restoration, Jennifer ensures that Sandia upholds its commitments to protect land leased from Kirtland Air Force Base and land withdrawn from the U.S. Forest Service.
Mirage software automates design of optical metamaterials
Sandia software developers have created the first inverse-design software for optical metamaterials. The new software lets users design science-fiction-like materials with the same efficiency that architects use when they draft building plans.
Air Force officials learn about Sandia/CA weapons contributions
U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard M. Clark, deputy chief of staff for Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration, visited Sandia California last month to familiarize himself with the site’s contributions to national security through nuclear weapons.
New lab offers mobile testing for devices that turn ocean waves into electricity
A new Labs facility — the Sandia Wave Energy Power Take-Off (SWEPT) Lab — offers mobile, specialized testing for systems that produce power from wave energy. Marine and hydrokinetic technologies convert the energy of waves, tides and river and ocean currents into electricity, creating the potential to provide millions with locally sourced, renewable and reliable energy.
Flying from the glass
Bird strikes against windows are an all-too-familiar sound. To birds, the transparent glass looks like open space, and between 500 million and 1 billion birds die each year trying to fly through closed windows. Sandia is solving this problem at one of its high-strike buildings, where ecology program staff partnered with facilities staff to place adhesives featuring a dot pattern on the building's windows.
W80-4 Life Extension Program achieves major milestone
The W80-4 Life Extension Program achieved a major milestone last month when the joint DOE and Department of Defense Nuclear Weapons Council approved the program to enter Phase 6.3, development engineering. The approval follows multiple briefings by the W80-4 leadership team to program stakeholders at NNSA headquarters and the Pentagon.
Process modernization
Modernizing the nuclear deterrent also means modernizing the weapon development process. To this end, Sandia and the Kansas City National Security Campus have established the New Product Introduction initiative. By integrating lessons learned from past weapons programs and industry best practices into the existing process, NPI can help enhance the security, reliability and performance of the nation’s nuclear deterrent.
CALLING GAMERS: Future nuclear security experts train with Sandia-designed game
The next generation of nuclear security experts is being trained in an exciting new way — by playing a first-of-its-kind war game Sandia helped design. The game, Signal, which goes online this spring after its launch as a board game last year, offers players a chance to make strategic decisions using modern political, economic and military tools.
‘MANOS’ needs a hand
Many of us can thank a teacher or mentor who early in our lives ignited in us a passion for our current professions. Sandia’s Manos — or “hands-on” — program is looking for the next generation of Sandia volunteer mentors to provide that spark for science, technology, engineering and math in local middle school students.
When winter weather hits
When winter weather strikes, here's where to go for information about Sandia work delays or closures.