Youssef Marzouk and Gregory Nielson were the first recipients of Sandia’s President Harry S. Truman Fellowship in National Security Science and Engineering in 2004. The Truman Fellowship is the only position at Sandia where the candidate proposes a research project, presents it, and, when selected, gets to do it for the next three years. Below are their thoughts and reflections on the first year of their fellowship.
Youssef holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from MIT. His research at Sandia (in the Reacting Flow Research Department) has focused on Bayesian inference for inverse problems and optimization, with applications to fluid dynamics, source inversion, and gene regulatory networks.
I've been a Truman Fellow at Sandia for just under one year, and thus far it's been a great experience. The fellowship has provided the opportunity to move my research into new areas, beyond what I investigated in my doctoral thesis, and that process has been both exciting and a lot of hard work. My research is focused on Bayesian inference for inverse problems—casting problems of inference from noisy real-world data and uncertain models in a rigorous probabilistic framework, and developing computational tools to make this possible on the large-scale systems that are simulated here at the Labs.
I've benefited a great deal from the mentorship of several colleagues at Sandia, whether on day-to-day issues or on broader questions of how to guide my research. And I've also learned a great deal through technical discussions with staff in my own department and in others; in fact, these have been quite invaluable as I encounter unfamiliar terrain. I almost always find that people are willing to go to the white board and think about a problem together, or to share their own experience with a research challenge that I've come upon in my work. Even simple things like recommending books and frequently passing along journal articles have created a climate of shared inquiry that has been stimulating and motivating.
Working at Sandia has also afforded many other resources for facilitating research: access to large computer systems, the opportunity to present my work at conferences around the world, a responsive technical library, and support for inviting guest speakers and external visitors.
Beyond that, my first year has seen a few other transitions: commuting instead of biking or walking to work, giving up cold Boston winters for mild California temperatures all year-round. All in all, it's been a tremendously positive experience, and I look forward to my next two years as a Truman Fellow.
Gregory received his bachelor’s degree from Utah State University and his master’s and Ph.D. from MIT. His research at Sandia is a continuation of his doctoral research and focuses on implementing and refining a new actuation technique for MEMS switches that will allow switching speeds 10 to 1,000 times faster than current MEMS devices. Gregory invented and developed the theory for the technique as part of his thesis. He works in the MEMS Devices & Reliability Physics Department.
The Truman Fellowship has provided me with a truly unique experience. It has given me the opportunity to think about, explore, and apply the research I initially proposed in an environment of very capable people with expertise in a wide variety of fields, and with facilities and equipment that are among the best available in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) research in the world.
As I have pursued my work under the fellowship, a number of people around the labs and in a variety of departments have given me valuable advice and feedback and have provided avenues for me to explore applications of my proposed work. The MEMS designers here at Sandia have been an important resource for me as I have worked to optimize the mechanical structure and the control systems for my devices. The process engineers associated with the microfabrication facilities have provided significant contributions as I’ve worked with them to create the custom process flows required to optimize the performance of my proposed devices.
One of the most important aspects of any research for me is whether or not the research is going to have an impact. That is, will there be an application for it at the end of the day. I’ve had the pleasure of working with several different people on finding applications for my work and have been encouraged at the success we’ve already had in finding important ways that the work supported by the fellowship may have an impact in a variety of applications at Sandia.
In addition to the exceptional people who I’ve had the opportunity to work with, I have been very pleased at the excellent microfabrication and test facilities available here at Sandia. It would be difficult to find better microfabrication facilities for MEMS research than what is available here. By allowing me access to Sandia’s facilities and people, the fellowship has made it possible for me to achieve unprecedented levels of performance from my devices.
Finally, one aspect of my experience with the fellowship that I didn’t anticipate was the opportunity to view Sandia National Laboratories from a unique vantage point. The fellowship has allowed me to meet and visit with people from all levels within Sandia and to see the workings of many departments and centers within the labs. It has been extremely interesting to me to see how Sandia is adapting to the changing role the nation is asking the national labs to play.
Overall, the fellowship has been a really interesting and motivating experience for me. I’ve had many opportunities for personal and professional growth, have been able to interact with exceptional people, have been able to demonstrate MEMS performance never before attained with my research, and have been exposed to the inner workings of the labs in ways I didn’t anticipate. It has so far been a really valuable opportunity for me and I look forward to the experiences awaiting me in the remaining two years.