ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — You’d think it would be easy to use seismic waves to find tunnels dug by smugglers of drugs, weapons or people. You’d be wrong. Nedra Bonal of Sandia’s geophysics and atmospheric sciences organization is nearing the end of a two-year study, “Improving Shallow Tunnel Detection From Surface Seismic Methods,” aimed at getting [...]
Category Archives: Homeland security
Northrop Grumman, GE partnerships tap wide range of Sandia Labs expertise
November 5, 2012 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Sandia National Laboratories has signed a pair of cooperative research and development agreements (CRADAs) that could broadly add to the Labs’ research into combustion, defense, energy and nuclear security. The umbrella CRADAs, which enable Sandia and its partners to pursue multiple projects in a variety of categories, are with Northrop Grumman Information [...]
Sandia probability maps help sniff out food contamination
September 27, 2012 – 8:47 am
Uncovering the sources of fresh food contamination could become faster and easier thanks to analysis done at Sandia National Laboratories’ National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center (NISAC). The study, in the International Journal of Critical Infrastructures, demonstrates how developing a probability map of the food supply network using stochastic network representation might shorten the time [...]
Sandia explosives legend Paul Cooper hangs up his teaching hat
August 27, 2012 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Paul Cooper, one of the world’s foremost explosives experts, retired from Sandia National Laboratories more than a decade ago but continued his labor of love, teaching a new generation of engineers everything they needed to know about blowing things up. Cooper taught explosives safety and technology to about 1,000 people at Sandia [...]
“Toxic” political discussions limit climate response, says invited speaker at Sandia
August 14, 2012 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The inability of natural and social scientists to convince political leaders that “we’re spinning a roulette wheel over climate change” puts humanity at “extreme risk,” said Massachusetts Institute of Technology management professor Henry Jacoby, former co-director of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, during a lecture [...]
Predictions by climate models are flawed, says invited speaker at Sandia
July 25, 2012 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Richard Lindzen, a global warming skeptic, told about 70 Sandia researchers in June that too much is being made of climate change by researchers seeking government funding. He said their data and their methods did not support their claims. “Despite concerns over the last decades with the [...]
Global warming unequivocal in its advance, says invited speaker at Sandia
July 24, 2012 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Global warming is unequivocal in its advance and will lead to more record-setting temperatures, said Warren M. Washington, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, in the seventh lecture of Sandia National Laboratories’ Climate Change and National Security series. The talk was given in mid-May. Washington, a pioneer in atmospheric [...]
Sandia seeks commercial partners for revolutionary “SpinDx” medical diagnostic tool
July 12, 2012 – 8:43 am
Faster, less expensive device gives lab test results in 15 minutes at point-of-care LIVERMORE, Calif. — Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a lab-on-a-disk platform that they believe will be faster, less expensive and more versatile than similar medical diagnostic tools. Lab officials are seeking industry partners to license and commercialize the SpinDx technology, [...]
Award-winning Sandia Labs engineer trods global path of nonproliferation
June 27, 2012 – 8:30 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Adam Williams of Sandia National Laboratories won a 2012 Black Engineer of the Year Award for his work in international security and nonproliferation. Williams was named Most Promising Engineer-Government in the prestigious BEYA program, which recognizes some of the nation’s best and brightest engineers, scientists and technology experts. The awards are sponsored [...]
Sandia Red Storm supercomputer exits world stage
June 26, 2012 – 9:27 am
From helping destroy an errant satellite to aiding a foundering computer company, forerunner machine was without peer ALBUQERQUE, N.M. — A celebration at Sandia’s Computer Science Research Institute in mid-May wrote finis to Red Storm, the Sandia-designed and Cray Inc.-built supercomputer, one of the most influential machines of its era, with 124 descendants at 70 [...]
Sandia seeks best ways to protect infrastructure, recover from disasters
June 21, 2012 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is expecting the unexpected to help the nation prepare for severe weather and figure out the best ways to lessen the havoc hurricanes and other disasters leave on power grids, bridges, roads and everything else in their path. “I think our work in critical infrastructure protection is a really [...]
Cyber research facility opens at Sandia’s California site
June 12, 2012 – 9:00 am
LIVERMORE, Calif. — Sandia National Laboratories’ new Cybersecurity Technologies Research Laboratory (CTRL) now offers an open yet controlled area for cybersecurity professionals from the Bay Area and across the country to meet and discuss critical cyber research issues. A grand opening for the facility, which resides on the grounds of the Livermore Valley Open Campus [...]
Miniature Sandia sensors may advance climate studies
April 10, 2012 – 5:00 am
Self-sealing valves also increase data reliability for airborne industrial and battlefield gas detection and point-of-contact medicine ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — An air sampler the size of an ear plug is expected to cheaply and easily collect atmospheric samples to improve computer climate models. “We now have an inexpensive tool for collecting pristine vapor samples in the [...]
U.S. Navy experience shows climate alterations, invited speaker at Sandia Labs says
March 29, 2012 – 12:25 pm
Information based on data, not computer models ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Because its presence is worldwide, the U.S. Navy sees the effects of climate change directly, an invited lecturer in Sandia National Laboratories’ ongoing Climate Change and National Security Speaker Series recently told his scientific audience in Albuquerque and, by teleconference, Livermore, Calif. “The findings are independent [...]
Sandia’s Ion Beam Laboratory looks at advanced materials for reactors
March 26, 2012 – 1:20 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M — Sandia National Laboratories is using its Ion Beam Laboratory (IBL) to study how to rapidly evaluate the tougher advanced materials needed to build the next generation of nuclear reactors and extend the lives of current reactors. Reactor operators need advanced cladding materials, which are the alloys that create the outer layer of nuclear [...]
SPIDERS microgrid project secures military installations
February 22, 2012 – 5:00 am
Bill Waugaman is the SPIDERS operational lead at Sandia National Laboratories. (Photo by Randy Montoya) Click on the thumbnail for a high-resolution image. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – When the lights go out, most of us find flashlights, dig out board games and wait for the power to come back. But that’s not an option for hospitals [...]
Anthrax-killing foam proves effective in meth lab cleanup
February 16, 2012 – 5:00 am
Sandia’s decontamination foam is now also a meth eraser Sandia’s decontamination foam, developed more than a decade ago and used to decontaminate federal office buildings and mailrooms during the 2001 anthrax attacks, is now being used to decontaminate illegal methamphetamine labs. Mark Tucker, a chemical engineer in Sandia’s Chemical & Biological Systems Dept. and co-creator [...]
Cyber workshop at Sandia Labs seeks potential responses to cyberattacks
October 25, 2011 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Among other dubious achievements, hackers have stolen identities, broken into bank accounts and breached computer systems of military contractors. They could conceivably interrupt water or electricity service to targeted populations. And worse. To solve these problems, Sandia National Laboratories has plans to increase cybersecurity research over the coming year through a new [...]
New tool allows first responders to visualize post-event disaster environments
August 17, 2011 – 5:00 am
Sandia, DHS modeling/simulation software debuted at national-level disaster exercise LIVERMORE, Calif. — Using iPad™ mobile devices, emergency preparedness officials and first responders participating in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Level Exercise 2011 (NLE-11) were able, for the first time, to make use of a new, science-based software tool that allows them to view and modify [...]
Sandia Labs’ Gemini-Scout robot likely to reach trapped miners ahead of rescuers
August 16, 2011 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – In the first moments after a mining accident, first responders work against the clock to assess the situation and save the miners. But countless dangers lurk: poisonous gases, flooded tunnels, explosive vapors and unstable walls and roofs. Such potentially deadly conditions and unknown obstacles can slow rescue efforts to a frustrating pace. [...]
Sandia wins 3 national technology transfer awards for bringing ideas, research to market
March 14, 2011 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A water blade that is disabling improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Afghanistan, software that detects water contamination or evidence of terrorists poisoning municipal water systems and a program that provides free technical assistance to New Mexico’s small businesses all have earned national awards for Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia will receive three 2011 [...]
Sandia National Laboratories helping to safeguard world’s dangerous biological agents
September 2, 2010 – 5:00 am
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Safeguarding the world’s most dangerous biological agents has been a top priority for a dedicated group of Sandia scientists for more than a decade, and now, this team is training laboratory leaders from around the world to secure deadly agents such as anthrax and HIV from accidental or intentional misuse. This year, [...]
MTI satellite continues to serve after 10 years in orbit
April 19, 2010 – 5:00 am
For engineers and scientists at Sandia, the evening of Friday, March 12, marked a proud moment in exceptional service to the nation. Hundreds of miles above the Earth, the Multispectral Thermal Imager satellite reached its 10th anniversary of service as it completed its 55,000th orbit — far exceeding both its intended maximum life and its [...]
Jill Hruby named Sandia vice president for Energy, Security and Defense Technologies
April 5, 2010 – 2:05 pm
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories President and Labs Director Tom Hunter announced today that Jill M. Hruby has been named vice president for Energy, Security and Defense Technologies. Hruby replaces Les Shephard, who recently retired from the Laboratories after nearly 30 years at Sandia. “We are pleased to welcome Jill to Sandia’s executive leadership team,” [...]
National Security Computing Center open for business
February 25, 2010 – 1:44 pm
Red Storm becomes a DOE asset for national security projects ALBUQUERQUE, NM — Sandia National Laboratories’ Red Storm high-performance computer will get broader use to help solve the nation’s most pressing national challenges now that it has been designated part of a Department of Energy user facility. Red Storm is the primary computer in the [...]
Sandia, DHS to demonstrate cargo security technologies
August 20, 2009 – 4:37 pm
Aug. 28 event highlights security technology for intermodal transport One of Sandia’s containers is moved in preparation for loading at the Port of Oakland. (Photo by Randy Wong) Download 300dpi 6MB JPEG image (Media are welcome to download/publish this image with related news stories.) ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Shipping containers are potential targets for organizations interested [...]