Sandia National Laboratories

A cleaner way to purify critical metals 🧽 Sandia chemists are pioneering an environmentally friendly method to purify rare-earth metals used in phones, LED lightbulbs, electric vehicles and wind turbines. Currently, separating metals from ores involves hazardous solvents and is primarily done overseas. Sandia’s new method could revolutionize this process. Read more about the process: https://bit.ly/3UhkXZt

Sandia then and now 🚒 The fire station located on Kirtland Air Force Base was built in the early 1940’s, before Sandia arrived in fall 1945. Today, the station remains fully operational, ready to respond to incidents and protect people and property on the base. For more Sandia history visit: https://bit.ly/47NwuoV #Sandias75th

A bright spot since 1978 ☀️ Sandia’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility features a 200-foot-tall concrete power tower with a field of more than 200 mirrored heliostats. Since it was commissioned, the NSTTF has led the way in solar energy commercialization and research. It’s also served as a testing ground for aerospace and defense applications, and still does today. “The NSTTF has a unique place in Sandia’s history,” said Sandia’s Margaret Gordon. “We’ve hosted so many visitors — U.S. presidents, secretaries of energy, congresspeople — and been able to emphasize the engineering expertise that exists at Sandia. We are the scientists and engineers who make things work, not just for renewable energy but for defense and other applications.” President George W. Bush visited the NSTTF to sign the Energy Policy Act of 2005. #Sandias75th Read more about the NSTTF’s history: https://bit.ly/3MoyY36

Congratulations to Sandia electrical engineer Rachid Darbali-Zamora who was honored with a Luminary Award from Great Minds in STEM (GMiS) 👏 He is recognized for his work advancing microgrids with renewable energy resources, as well as his contributions to the Hispanic technical community. “To me, this award is a call to action,” Darbali-Zamora said. “There is more that should be done to help support others in their careers, to make a difference. This is just the beginning of what I hope to accomplish.” Read more about his work: https://bit.ly/3zJuiC6 #HispanicHeritageMonth #HHM

Putting Sandia Emergency Management to the test 🚨 Each year, the Labs conducts a comprehensive exercise to evaluate its ability to respond to a wide range of emergencies. “We train, drill and exercise year-round to ensure the health and safety of our colleagues and neighbors while protecting the environment,” said David Stuhan, director of Environment, Safety and Health. “This year’s exercise was especially challenging, [involving] a simulated catastrophic event with multiple incident scenes and cyber intelligence challenges.” #EmergencyPreparednessMonth Read more about the drill: https://bit.ly/4gvuN3j

Inventing the ultra-clean room ✨ Willis Whitfield grew up fixing everything on his family’s cotton farm in West Texas. During his 30 years at Sandia, his invention solved a difficult problem in the manufacturing world by creating clean room technology that is still in use today. Originally sketched out while flying on a plane in 1960, Whitfield’s clean room revolutionized electronics manufacturing, made hospital operating rooms safer and helped further space exploration. Whitfield’s son Jim followed in his father’s footsteps and became an engineer. “I actually spent quite a bit of time in my dad’s invention. From a personal point of view, I would say to myself, ‘I am working in something my dad made.’ Every time I would walk in, I would say, ‘Thanks, Dad.’” #Sandias75th Read more about Whitfield’s legacy and his spot in the National Inventors Hall of Fame: https://bit.ly/47iaHVN

Family day at Sandia 👨👩👧👦 This month, an estimated 15,000 Sandia employees and their guests attended Family Day at the Albuquerque site — a rare chance for relatives to see where the Labs’ staff work every day. Visitors toured a few buildings, ate cotton candy and most importantly, spent time with their loved ones. ➡️ https://bit.ly/3XWbSHx

Answering the call 🔊 Sandia has a long history of responding to crises across the country and world, using employees’ expertise to solve complex, hazardous problems. - Anthrax Decontamination: In 2001, federal authorities used a decontamination foam developed at Sandia to help rid Capitol Hill buildings of anthrax. - Deepwater Horizon: In 2010, a natural gas explosion killed 11 people and injured 17. The damaged BP drilling platform Deepwater Horizon sunk, releasing the largest marine oil spill in history. For five months, Sandia staff helped work to stop the flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. - Fukushima reactor cleanup: Developed by Sandia in the early 1990s, crystalline silico-titanate was used to remove radioactive material from more than 43 million gallons of contaminated wastewater at Japan’s damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. After a tsunami caused the partial meltdown in March 2011, Sandia researchers worked around the clock to deploy the technology. Read more about Sandia’s emergency response: https://bit.ly/4cTc92h #EmergencyPreparednessMonth #Sandias75th

Getting water where it needs to go 💧 The Navajo Nation’s vast landscape is largely untouched by modern conveniences. Without the right infrastructure, getting water to livestock has been a problem for generations. Sandia partnered with Arrowhead Center: New Mexico State University and locally owned Remote Well Solutions LLC to develop a pump system that will spare ranchers from hauling water long distances and keep cattle from walking miles for a drink. “I have been out there and met many of the people benefiting from this. They are so grateful,” said Sandia engineer Brian Dwyer. “I remember this older guy — he had to be 75 years old. After we installed the system and he saw what it could do, he started crying because he couldn’t believe it.” Read more about the pump technology: https://bit.ly/4gEYiQm

Deflecting doom ☄️ A Sandia research team is conducting zero-gravity experiments to gather data that could help humanity deflect potentially dangerous asteroids away from Earth by using a coordinated nuclear response. “To most people, the danger from asteroids seems remote,” said Sandia researcher Nathan Moore. “But our planet is hit by BB-sized asteroids every day. We call them shooting stars. We don’t want to wait for a large asteroid to show up and then scramble for the right method to deflect it.” Learn how this research is safeguarding our future: https://bit.ly/3XUypVk