Life at a U.S. DOE National Laboratory
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Transcript of Life at a U.S. DOE National Laboratory
Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the
U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000. SAND2011-0439P
Sandia National LaboratoriesAn Overview
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National Security Enterprise
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Sandia’s History
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Sandia’s Governance StructureSandia Corporation AT&T: 1949–1993 Martin Marietta: 1993–1995 Lockheed Martin: 1995–present
Government owned, contractor operated
Federally fundedresearch and development center
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Sandia’s Sites
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant,Carlsbad, New Mexico
Tonopah, Nevada
Pantex, Texas
Livermore,California
Albuquerque,New Mexico
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People and Budget (As of October 11, 2011)
Mechanical engineering 17%
Electrical engineering 20%
Other engineering 15%
Math 2%
Computing 17%
Other science 6%Other fields 12%
Chemistry 5%Physics 6%
32%
On-site workforce: 11,876Regular employees: 9,122Gross payroll: ~$943 million
Technical staff (4,557) by discipline
50%
29%
11% 10%
FY11 Operating Revenue $2.4 billion
Nuclear Weapons
Defense Systems & Assessments
Energy, Climate & Infrastructure Security
International, Homeland, and Nuclear Security
(Operating Budget)
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Addressing Our Evolving National Security Environment is of the Greatest Importance
Threats fromother nation states
Traditional strategicnuclear threats
Threats fromnon nation states
Other threats: natural disasters, climate change, energy supplyThreats of
tech surprise
Nuclear Weapons
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Safety systems
Neutron generators
Arming, fuzing, and firing systems
Integrated, engineered warhead systems
Gas transfer systems
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Nuclear WeaponsHigh reliability, high consequence of failure, challenging environments,and technology solutions
Microelectronics and microsystems
Computational simulation
Environmental testing
Design, fabricate, package, and test trusted semiconductor components
High-performance hardware and software tools to enable solutions requiring massively parallel computers
Simulate environmental conditions and collect relevant data for systems, subassemblies, and components
Facilities and Capabilities
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Other program areas
Defense Systems and Assessments
Energy, Climate, and Infrastructure Security
International, Homeland, and Nuclear Security
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Research Disciplines Drive Capabilities
Research Disciplines
ComputerScience
Materials EngineeringSciences
MicroElectronics
Pulsed PowerBioscience
High Performance Computing
Nanotechnologies & Microsystems
Extreme Environments
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My career at Sandia
27 years (14 as a manager) Variety of roles
facilities design project management construction management site and infrastructure planning program management
Sandia paid for MSCE (construction mgmt through special degree program
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Mid-career– Chrisma Jackson BSME and MSME from Texas A&M (Go Aggies!) Sandia paid for her MSME through special degree program Additional MS in Engineering Mechanics with an Emphasis
on Explosives from NM Tech - Tuition reimbursement program
Worked for several years at CA site in nuclear weapons – then relocated to NM site with her husband
Changed business units – Started with Defense Systems and Assessments/Information Operations in May 2007
Became a manager in December 2009 “It is exciting and energizing to do things that really make
a difference for our nation.”
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Early career – Fiona Lu
BSEE George Mason University, May 2010 Recruited at SWE Conference 2009! Sandia paid for MSEE at Purdue (Dec 2011) through special
degree program Working in nuclear weapons System Engineering group
Supports system testing Analyzes test data Lots of writing and lots of meetings!
Sandia has recently hired her fiancé!
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Working at Sandia
Positive aspects Location, location, location! Benefits Technically challenging, exciting
work Lots of new programs spinning up
= opportunity Robust internal job posting
system Get to work with some of the
brightest people in the country
Challenges Sometimes bureaucratic
Change comes slowly Optimum solutions can be
trumped by time and budget constraints
Subject to the vagaries of the Congressional funding process
Compete with some of the brightest people in the country