The nation’s largest national laboratory and New Mexico’s flagship university this week announced an expansion of their commitment to work together to help redefine the future of science and engineering for national security, partner on research and jointly recruit top researchers.
Sandia National Laboratories President and Director Paul Hommert and University of New Mexico Provost Chaouki Abdallah signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a Strategic Alliance at UNM’s Centennial Engineering Center.
“With this MOU, Sandia and UNM commit to a deeper relationship to strengthen both organizations by exchanging personnel, developing innovative joint research programs and educating the next generation of national security leaders,” Hommert said.
Said UNM President Robert G. Frank, “In research, as in real estate, location is key! Not many research universities have a national lab as their neighbor, but we do. This agreement with Sandia Labs strengthens that close working partnership and pools our intellectual resources.”
Collaborative research will focus initially on national security applications in:
- Quantum Computing and Information Science
- Nanoscience and Microsystems Engineering
- Nuclear Engineering
- High Energy Density Science
- Energy
- Cybersecurity
- Bioscience
About 2,400 UNM graduates work at Sandia, many in technical areas vital to national security. The MOU will encourage exchanges and integration of researchers, faculty and students, sharing of offices and facilities and an overall increased presence on each other’s campuses. At this time, more than 400 current UNM students are working at the Labs.
The two institutions have had a series of research pacts dating back to 1982. The new agreement supersedes an MOU signed by Sandia and UNM in 2011 that was set to expire next year.