In attendance at the news conference and dedication ceremony will be UCSD Chancellor Mary Ann Fox, Jacobs School Dean Frieder Seible and director of the UCSD Engineering Institute at Los Alamos Chuck Farrar.
"This partnership strengthens our comprehensive approach to recruiting, training, retention and research in an effort to better meet future engineering needs relevant to the Lab's mission of enhancing global security," said Farrar.
Los Alamos could hire several hundred engineers over the next five years, and the Engineering Institute will help fill the need for a well-trained workforce. Through the partnership, UCSD faculty and students and Los Alamos scientists will address critical infrastructure management issues in the civil and defense sectors, such as stewardship of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and maintenance of bridges, aircraft and ships, and manufacturing facilities.
Los Alamos is establishing additional partners within the UC system. Following the UCSD model, each Institute would focus on research areas and educational disciplines of strong interest to the Lab. Los Alamos recently announced a similar partnership to form an advanced studies institute with three New Mexico universities.
"We see this collaboration as a model for how UCSD can work with our University of California colleagues to expand the national presence and service of the university," said Fox. "UCSD depends on partners like Los Alamos to ensure the relevance of our education and research by focusing on real-world needs and challenges."
An ongoing focus of the collaboration is graduate-level engineering education offered by the UCSD Jacobs School and co-located at Los Alamos. Classes are delivered at both Los Alamos and UCSD via a two-way Internet link, and Los Alamos senior scientists serve as adjunct professors in the program. Courses focus on technologies to detect damage and predict the remaining useful life of engineered systems. In the master's program, students will complete a capstone design project proposed by Los Alamos or an industry partner. In the doctoral program, students participate in UCSD-Los Alamos collaborative research projects.
Eight engineering doctoral candidates at UCSD have received Los Alamos fellowships and 13 Los Alamos employees have concurrently enrolled in UCSD classes being offered between San Diego and the Los Alamos Research Park.
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.