Wallace discusses vision of Los Alamos as national security laboratory of choice
“He has a passion for this Lab. He has a passion for the community and all it can contribute to this country in science and technology.”
-- Laboratory Director Michael Anastasio
“In this maelstrom of change, it is clear we need to continue to serve the national interest and solve difficult problems… If you look at our innovative science and dedication of the staff, I think we can have a very bright future.”
-- Terry Wallace, principal associate director for science technology and engineering
After Laboratory Director Michael Anastasio told Laboratory employees Tuesday that Terry Wallace will continue serving as principal associate director for science, technology, and engineering (PADSTE), Wallace outlined his vision for the future of science programs at Los Alamos.
As a champion of the Laboratory’s current Grand Challenges effort to maintain and enhance the intellectual vitality of the Laboratory by highlighting support for fundamental science and engineering at Los Alamos, Wallace pointed to the original grand challenge solved at Los Alamos -- designing the first nuclear weapon.
The success of Project Y, Wallace said, was due in large part to an interdisciplinary team that worked together every day. “The Trinity Shot was the result of the fruits of their labor,” said Wallace, adding that Los Alamos staff must build on this rich history as a national resource to continue to solve the country’s difficult problems using an interdisciplinary approach.
“This culture has served this Laboratory well in those 60 plus years. We have seen this cross-discipline, collaborative approach work many times,” he said.
Wallace said it is essential that the Lab “be agile” -- innovate, anticipate, and deliver. This includes building and strengthening collaborations with universities and other research institutions, as well as establishing a large customer base to “bring work” to the Laboratory. This is a time of evolving changing missions of the Laboratory. “We need to serve the national interest and solve truly complicated problems. This spans the range from basic science to the delivery of systems.”
Wallace addressed three primary areas underlying the capabilities for supporting national security in which the Laboratory must focus:
1) science that really matters
2) how we do our work
3) revolutionizing the campus
Science that matters
Wallace said information science and technology, experimental science -- materials for the future, and fundamental science for chemical/biological/nuclear threats are three areas that crosscut the Grand Challenges in the science arena. The Laboratory should pursue these areas over the next decade, according to Wallace.
He stressed that information science and technology requires a combination of high-performance computing and applied mathematics, as well as a focus on both hardware and software to address future simulation and modeling needs.
However, Wallace emphasized that “scientists must experiment” in order to validate such simulations. Under this umbrella, he provided examples such as materials science, solar cells, and the importance of systems engineering. He also profiled Laboratory scientists’ work with protocells to understand the life cycle of systems, which in the near future may allow the Lab to create self replicating materials that can heal themselves and eventually have implications for the medical field. Then, Wallace discussed scientists’ efforts to detect weakly interacting massive particles and determine the nature of dark matter.
He also talked about the need to reduce threats by understanding chemistry, biology, and nuclear science. And he noted the Laboratory’s successful history of keeping track of nuclear weapons proliferation in other countries, including North Korea, by monitoring seismic activity.
How we do our work
“Lab employees should take the values of interdisciplinary work from the past and combine them with future changes,” said Wallace.
As part of the new future of science at Los Alamos, Wallace recommended that the Lab seek multiple customers to ensure a steady flow of work, and find ways to improve the Laboratory’s ability to respond to the needs of these different customers.
Campus for the future
Wallace said the size of the Laboratory’s campus is driving up costs. He said that Laboratory facilities span 40 square miles, or 9 million square feet. “Our Laboratory has on average six times more square footage per employee than any other national laboratory,” he said.
According to Wallace, $88 million is budgeted this year to maintain the campus — twice as much as the maintenance costs for other national laboratories. The high cost of maintaining a large antiquated campus, he said, makes it imperative to compress the size of the Laboratory.
He also shared the status of the Laboratory’s proposed Science Complex is still being pursued. He identified a need to define a Signature Facility to attract researchers to the Laboratory, and noted that employees are submitting pre-proposals to be considered for the upcoming Signature Facility workshop.
The Los Alamos Proton Accelerator Research Complex (L-PARC) -- an integrated, interdisciplinary suite of capabilities utilizing energetic and intense proton, neutron, and photon drivers and probes at the scale appropriate for a national laboratory -- is an example of a potential candidate for a Signature Facility, he said.
Wallace closed his talk by stressing the importance of the work force. “We must continue to focus on hiring the best and the brightest,” he said. Since fifty percent of the TSM new hires come from postdoc conversion, Wallace said they were “perhaps the most important part of our pipeline at Los Alamos.”
Despite potential budget adjustments, Wallace remains positive about his vision of the science and technology future at the Laboratory. But, he emphasized that for transitions in this area to succeed, all employees must be engaged.
“The future of the Lab is not management’s prerogative -- it is everyone’s prerogative.”
The talk will be rebroadcast at 12:30 this afternoon on LABNET Channel 10. Check the schedule for other possible rebroadcast times.
