Sandia Signs National Security Research Partnership with University of New Mexico

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Mexico (UNM) that will continue a decades-long history of research partnerships between the two institutions, SNL announced yesterday. The pact establishes a "Strategic Alliance" at the university’s Centennial Engineering Center, the news release states. According to a statement by Paul Hommert, president and director of SNL, the partnership will "strengthen both organizations by exchanging personnel, developing innovative joint research programs and educating the next generation of national security leaders." In addition to personnel recruitment efforts, the pact identifies several areas of focus for collaborative national security research, including nuclear engineering and high energy density science, the release states. The collaboration will also include an Inter-Institutional Visitor Agreement, "which allows direct collaborations without formal agreements," according to the announcement. It adds that SNL and UNM have signed similar agreements in recent years, with "research pacts dating back to 1982."