In accordance with the memorandum of understanding, Heinrich Nakotte has been chosen to hold a joint position between NMSU and LANSCE. Nakotte will hold a half-time teaching position at NMSU, and will hold a half-time staff member position at LANSCE. The Laboratory and the university will split the costs of Nakotte's salary and benefits. The agreement spans six years or until Nakotte achieves a tenured position in the NMSU's Physics Department.
"The agreement between the Laboratory and NMSU will broaden and strengthen cooperation between the two institutions," said LANSCE Deputy Director Roger Pynn. "The agreement will aid NMSU's Physics Department in maintaining an internationally prominent group of physicists, and this group, in turn, will become an important presence in research efforts at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center."
"Nakotte's presence at LANSCE certainly will help bring the facility to the attention of graduate students who may wish to develop research programs at the Neutron Science Center," Pynn said.
Congressman Joe Skeen and incoming Laboratory Director John Browne, who previously was LANSCE's director, are scheduled to formalize the agreement today at Skeen's Washington office.
The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center uses the world's most powerful linear proton accelerator - with a beam power of one megawatt - to produce intense sources of pulsed spallation neutrons. Members of the United States scientific community use the neutrons for a number of research applications, including materials research, nuclear physics research and medical radioisotope production research.
In addition to these applications, scientists at Los Alamos use the facility to help carry out the Laboratory's core mission of reducing the nuclear danger. At LANSCE, researchers use neutrons to probe components of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile to see how these components age or whether they change over time. The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center is a key facility in the Laboratory's science-based stockpile stewardship activities, Pynn said.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and the Washington Division of URS for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.