Sandia, UNM ink pact to promote research, recruiting: MOU to enable deeper, stronger collaboration

July 13, 2015 - Karen Wentworh (UNM News)

mou signingThe nation’s largest national laboratory and New Mexico’s flagship university on Monday expanded their commitment to work together to help redefine the future of science and engineering for national security, partner on research and jointly recruit top researchers.

Sandia National Laboratories President and Director Paul Hommert and University of New Mexico Provost Chaouki Abdallah signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a Strategic Alliance at UNM’s Centennial Engineering Center.

“With this MOU, Sandia and UNM commit to a deeper relationship to strengthen both organizations by exchanging personnel, developing innovative joint research programs and educating the next generation of national security leaders,” Hommert said.

UNM President Robert G. Frank said, “In research, as in real estate, location is key! Not many research universities have a national lab as their neighbor, but we do,” said “This agreement with Sandia Labs strengthens that close working partnership and pools our intellectual resources.”

The MOU aims to:

  • explore strategies enabling the future of engineering for national security;
  • seek innovative facility partnerships that enable collaborative research; and
  • jointly recruit and hire nationally prominent researchers for UNM faculty and Sandia technical staff.

Collaborative research will focus initially on quantum computing and information science, nanoscience and microsystems engineering, nuclear engineering, high energy density science, energy, water, cyber security and bioscience for national security.

The MOU also makes UNM part of a larger academic alliance that Sandia has formed over the past year to bring together the Labs’ technical status as a Federally Funded Research and Development Center and the know-how of major national research universities. The alliance has three principal goals: solve big problems, sustain and engage human capital and accelerate technology commercialization.

“With this MOU, Sandia and UNM commit to a deeper relationship to strengthen both organizations by exchanging personnel, developing innovative joint research programs and educating the next generation of national security leaders."

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