Almost one third of staff are physicists, a quarter engineers, the remainder distributed across materials science, mathematics, computational and biological sciences. It posesses strong capabilities and unique facilities in the areas of advanced computing, modeling and simulation, information management, advanced materials, sensor technologies, biosciences, energy, and geophysical end environmental sciences.
Laboratory staff collaborates with universities and industry in both basic and applied research to develop resources for the future. LANL is well known as a major national resource for the development and integration of leading-edge science and technology to solve problems of national and global security. Since 1945 nearly 1500 patents have been issued to LANL.
Specific research focuses at LANL include:
• Imaging, remote sensing, learning and predictive algorithms, and all aspects of high performance computing.
• Materials science, chemistry, biology sciences, theoretical physics, decision analysis, and earth and environmental science.
• Specific expertise in fuel cells, superconductivity, acoustic spectroscopy, surface modification, supercritical fluids, catalysis, radiochemistry, molecular and combustion modeling, computational fluid dynamics, computational biology, statistics and huge database resources.
LANL Cyber Strengths
Quantum cryptography - world-class leadership capabilities in developing and developing secure transmission systems using fail-proof quantum cryptographic encryption. LANL has fielded the longest-distance fiber optic systems in the world that are now in use by various agencies in the Washington D.C. area. LANL has been the first to demonstrate open-air quantum cryptography using lasers and small telescopes. LANL is only institution in the U.S. able to field quantum cryptographic systems for specific applications.
Construction and operation of satellite systems - LANL developed and operated the first Vela satellites in the 1960s used in support of the U.S. nuclear weapons test monitoring system. LANL continues to develop special-purpose satellites for national reconnaissance, most recently including the Alexis and Forte satellites.
Support for national security information applications - LANL has developed sophisticated capabilities in automated pattern recognition computer programs (GENIE) used in a variety of applications including homeland security and other programs.
Cyber security threat deterrence - LANL has decades of experience in analyzing cyber threats and in developing systems to track threats back to the source and to prevent unauthorized access. These include capabilities in detecting and incapacitating cyber attacks made with worms, viruses, steganography, and other software threats as well as hardware (insider) threats. LANL experiences over 500,000 hacker attempts a day to penetrate the Laboratory firewalls. The Laboratory has a world-class record in dealing with these threats.
Threat response capabilities - LANL regularly provides cyber security support to analyzing and addressing specific threats that have targeted a variety of government agencies as well as providing expertise to other organizations in assessing their vulnerabilities to cyber threats.
High performance computing - LANL is a world leader in the application of high performance computing in support of national security. This includes the development of capabilities to design, analyze, and implement networked arrays of sensors that are critical in detecting a wide range of threats.
National Intelligence Programs - LANL has close ties and works with various agencies in analyzing and assessing threats to national security.
NISAC (National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center) - In collaboration with Sandia, has modeling and simulation capabilities for national security infrastructure needs.
High Performance Computing - LANL has been a leader for decades in HPC and is currently constructing what will be the fastest computer in the world using a novel heterogeneous architecture.
Collaborative Research
LANL institutional centers strengthen the collective capacity and effectiveness of the Laboratory and its partners in making major advances in basic research.
Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies
The Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies (CINT) is a Department of Energy/Office of Science Nanoscale Science Research Center (NSRC) operating as a national user facility devoted to establishing the scientific principles that govern the design, performance, and integration of nanoscale materials.
CINT is one of five NSRCs throughout the U.S. that form an integrated national program, affiliated with major facilities at the DOE’s National Laboratories, to cover the diverse aspects of nanoscience and technology. This complex aspires to become a cornerstone of the nation’s nanotechnology revolution, contributing to DOE’s principal missions in national defense, energy, and the environment while providing an invaluable resource for universities and industries.
Through its core facility in Albuquerque with gateways to both Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories, CINT provides open access to tools and expertise needed to explore the continuum from scientific discovery to the integration of nanostructures into the micro- and macro world.
Center for Nonlinear Studies
The primary activity of the Center is to conduct and support basic scientific research in nonlinear and complex systems phenomena and promote their use in applied research programs.
CNLS chooses a small number (two to three) focus topics periodically and directs a major portion of its research capabilities into these strategically important areas. CNLS played an important role in developing and supporting emerging scientific directions that later become major research areas. Examples include the turbulence theory and simulation, Lattice-Boltzmann method, computational materials science, nonlinear waves and solitons, theoretical immunology, HIV epidemiology, uncertainty quantification in complex systems, and complex networks.
Current exploratory directions are:
• Computational molecular biology
• Agent-based systems and modeling
Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter/LANL
ICAM/Los Alamos National Laboratory is the founding branch of the Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter (ICAM), which began in 1998 at a Los Alamos workshop and is now a multicampus research program of the University of California.
ICAM’s integrated scientific and educational program includes exploratory workshops, symposia, fellowships, research and educational networks. It has a well-developed communication, governance and advisory structure for its 17 United States and four European branches that represent 33 leading major centers of materials research in the US and Europe. Its activities are supported by the National Science Foundation, the Richard P. Lounsbery Foundation, and dues from its branch members.
The ICAM staff, which is responsible for activities on the Los Alamos campus and assists in workshop and research collaboration elsewhere, is located in the Materials Physics and Applications Division.
For more information about ICAM, visit the main ICAM site at http://icam.ucop.edu/index.html.
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics
The Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics promotes and supports high quality, cutting-edge science in the areas of astrophysics, space physics, solid planetary geoscience, and complex dynamical earth systems. These focus areas are selected based on their breadth of scientific challenges facing the international scientific community, as well as on the strategic need to extend Laboratory scientific excellence.
Partnerships
Collaboration between LANL and university scientists is viewed by LANL as an effective arrangement to promote creativity and extend science beyond today’s understanding. This effort is accomplished by:
Developing long-term collaborative relationships with universities whose research interests are important to the Laboratory.
Sponsoring, partnering with, and funding university professors and students in areas that are important to meet Laboratory objectives.
Establishing relationships with students working in these research areas and recruiting them to the Laboratory upon graduation where they can continue their work and help the Laboratory to fulfill is objectives.
Instituting educational programs to provide Laboratory personnel with specific knowledge and skills that make them more effective in completing projects that meet Laboratory objectives.
Lujan Neutron Scattering Center
The Manuel Lujan Jr. Neutron Scattering Center employs a pulsed spallation neutron source equipped with time-of-flight spectrometers for neutron scattering studies of condensed-matter. Neutron scattering is a powerful technique for probing the microscopic structure and dynamics of condensed matter and is used in materials science, engineering, condensed matter physics, chemistry, biology, and geology.
National High-Magnetic Field Laboratory
The Pulsed Field Facility is one of three campuses of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL). The NHMFL is sponsored primarily by the National Science Foundation, Division of Materials Research, with additional support from the State of Florida and the US Department of Energy.
LANL provides unique resources to the Pulsed Magnetic Field Laboratory of the NHMFL in the form of a 1.4 GVA inertial storage motor-generator for high field pulsed magnets. In addition to the 60 Tesla Long Pulse Magnet powered by the motor-generator, the NHMFL features capacitor-driven pulsed magnets.
The NHMFL supports a user facility open to all qualified users, develops magnet technology in association with the private sector, and advances sciences and technology opportunities using high magnetic fields. Take a virtual tour of the NHMFL at Los Alamos.
Quantum Institute
In June 2001 a small working group of quantum information, science, and technology (QIST) researchers was chartered to develop a plan to create a cohesive lab-wide QIST program and possibly an institute. In 2002, the working group formed the Quantum Institute and a visitor program; garnered funding to refurbish labs, offices, and a briefing center; and identified a steering committee and executive board to guide the institute.
The area of quantum information, science, and technology is rapidly evolving with important applications in the areas of quantum cryptography, quantum computing, quantum metrology, and advanced quantum-based sensors, some of which are directly relevant to the Laboratory’s national security mission.
Although the Quantum Institute’s national security mission at LANL is manifest in many areas, it is perhaps most evident in two of the Laboratory’s most successful quantum technology initiatives - quantum cryptography and the race for a quantum computer.
Seaborg Institute
The Institute is a “virtual center” in nearly every sense. There is no “building” and no “funding portfolio” per se. The Institute facilitates the formation of research teams for the Laboratory and the nation, and helps them get organized in order to target specific funding sources.
Education Programs
Knowledge of actinide science continues to be essential to the US and central to the mission of the DOE, including national defense, energy, environmental restoration, and radioactive waste management. The objective of the Seaborg Institute Education program is to recapture the seminal philosophy of teaching critical skills to both visiting students and our existing technical workforce through workshops, short courses, and accredited university courses. This program (i) serves as a resource for replenishing essential skills in nuclear science, (ii) serves as a resource for preserving and passing on essential corporate knowledge in nuclear sciences, (iii) provides a vehicle for early recruitment of the next generation of nuclear scientists and engineers, and (iv) offer accredited courses which can expedite a student’s graduation, and offer career development.
Superconductivity Technology Center
The Superconductivity Technology Center (STC) coordinates a multidisciplinary program for research, development, and technology transfer in the area of high-temperature superconductivity. The focus is on effective collaborations with American industry, universities, and other national laboratories to develop electric power and electronic device applications of high-temperature superconductors (HTS).
Applied research and development efforts include powder synthesis, tape/coil processing, thin/thick film deposition, characterization of microstructural and superconducting properties, power cryogenic engineering, and prototype devices.
Current projects conducted in collaboration with industry include development of tapes, fault current limiters, and power transmission cables based on HTS materials. Learn more about collaborating with STC.
Center for Space Science & Exploration
Formed in 1999, this center promotes space science and exploration that takes advantage of the Laboratory’s interdisciplinary programs and capabilities. Focus areas include conducting planetary science, studying the biological effects of long-term space travel, searching for signs of life on other planets, developing nuclear power and propulsion systems, and creating new types of alloys and other materials for use in space.
Traditional areas of exploration for CSSE include space physics, astrophysics, and planetary science. In addition, CSSE is engaged in numerous new efforts, such as astrobiology, exobiology, space nuclear power and propulsion, and advanced space materials.
Educational and Research Collaborations with Universities
The newly-created National Security Education Center combines several LANL institutes, each of which partner with respected universities to provide exceptional educational opportunities and support staff, recruitment, revitalization and retention.
The Engineering Institute (University of California San Diego)
The Engineering Institute (EI) is a collaboration between LANL and the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) Jacobs School of Engineering whose mission is to develop a comprehensive approach for 1) conducting mission-driven, multidisciplinary engineering research and 2) recruiting, revitalization and retention of the current and future staff necessary to support LANL’s stockpile stewardship responsibilities. The scientific thrust of the Engineering Institute is damage prognosis, a multidisciplinary engineering science concerned with assessing the current condition and predicting the remaining life of aerospace, civil, and mechanical engineering infrastructure.
The components of the Engineering Institute are 1) the Los Alamos Dynamic Summer School (LADSS), 2) a joint LANL/UCSD degree program with a unique focus in validated simulations, structural health monitoring, and damage prognosis, 3) joint LANL/UCSD research projects, and 4) industry short courses. The LADSS addresses recruiting entry-level students into the program from across the country. The joint degree program addresses training of potential new hires and early-career staff, while also serving to retain mid-career staff who act as instructors and advisors for the early-career staff. In addition to meeting mission-driven research needs, the joint research projects also serve as a retention tool for staff at all career levels that collaborate with the UCSD faculty and students on these projects. The new technology development associated with these projects inherently provides the added benefit of a recruiting tool. Industry short courses provide an avenue of outreach to the engineering community at large as well as an additional, non-traditional form of peer review.
Technical Thrust. The technology thrust of the EI is damage prognosis, a multidisciplinary engineering science concerned with assessing the current condition and predicting the remaining life of a wide variety of structural systems. Developing damage prognosis capabilities requires coordinated development of 1) advanced sensing and telemetry hardware, 2) novel signal processing and pattern recognition algorithms, and 3) complex multi-scale, physics-based predictive modeling. These same three fundamental technology areas are essential to advancing engineering capabilities required for LANL’s stockpile stewardship mission, particularly with regards to the validation of the large-scale simulations needed in the absence of nuclear testing. Thus, the technical thrust of the EI is directly aligned with LANL’s core mission. Additionally, advances in damage prognosis capabilities offer the potential for significant life-safety and economic benefits to a variety of civilian and conventional defense applications associated with aerospace, mechanical, and civil infrastructure. These societal benefits coupled with the difficulties associated with multidisciplinary research make the development of damage prognosis solutions a “grand challenge” for engineering in the 21st century.
Institute for Multiscale Materials Science (University of California Santa Barbara)
The Institute for Multiscale Materials Science (IMMS) is a joint UCSB/LANL graduate educational program focusing on educational and research activities in the area of Multiscale Materials Science and Engineering. IMMS is considered as an extension of UCSB as far as fulfillment of residency and similar requirements. The initial emphasis is the support of research program in soft matter leading to multiphase, responsive, engineered materials that are used in mission-critical Los Alamos applications. In this context, responsive engineered materials are defined as soft materials that intelligently respond in a prescribed manner, to external and/or internal fields. By working with industry partners, LANL and UCSB will help solve problems of national importance while also supporting the mission and goals of LANL.
Current focus is in the area of Multiscale Materials and Mechanics (MMM). The graduate opportunity in MMM involves a highly interactive program that combines theory, experiment, and numerical simulation in this area and has a multidisciplinary curriculum. It is envisaged that the educational programs will include initially a graduate specialization in MMM in the Chemical Engineering, Materials, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science departments leading to Master’s and PhD degrees accredited through UCSB. As the program evolves, the specialization areas will transition to a graduate degree emphasis offered by UCSB College of Engineering in these departments.
Current Projects:
• Mechanical Properties of Polymeric Foam Materials for Strategic Applications
• Collaborative Studies of Electro-active Polymers and Foams for Sensors and Actuators
• Molecular Characterization of Hydrogen-blown RTV Silicone Foams to Evaluate and Optimize Material Performance and Production
• Engineering Responsive Polymer Properties through Nanoparticle Addition
Materials Design Institute (University of California Davis)
The Materials Design Institute (MDI) was established to recruit, retain, and revitalize the LANL materials workforce through education programs. As part of the education activities, appropriate mentored research activities are included for fulfillment of degree requirements and professional enhancement. The materials community at LANL constitutes a very broad spectrum of cross-organizational interactions, and therefore, an inclusive multi-disciplinary approach is mandated to capture emerging competencies and capabilities essential for the future health of the organization. To achieve this ambitious goal, a collaborative interaction has been established with the College of Engineering at the University of California-Davis to develop a diverse, cross-discipline degree emphasis that promotes teaming through dual-use technology advancement.
The core competencies stressed in the MDI focus upon synthesis/processing, alloy design, and the resultant properties as linked by the primary characterization feature, microstructural evolution. These competencies are linked through first-principal models and engineering simulations to develop integrated teaming approaches that can address performance objectives relevant to a diverse set of programmatic goals.
Two major thrusts of the MDI are the Joint Educational Program, in which a specialized curriculum is being developed with courses to be taught by UC Davis faculty and LANL staff, and the Collaborative Research Programs. Graduate students are currently involved in joint research projects with UC Davis faculty and LANL technical staff. These projects are funded by the Institute and provide opportunities to perform cutting edge research that is relevant to the LANL mission. In addition to research performed at UC Davis, the students have the opportunity to spend summers at LANL, working directly with LANL staff.
The MDI Research Programs are organized into three main disciplines:
• 3-D Microscopy and Data Analysis and Visualization
• Sensor and Actuator Materials
• New Materials Synthesis and Crystal Growth
Institute for Advanced Studies (University of New Mexico, New Mexico Tech, New Mexico State University)
The New Mexico Consortium’s (NMC) Institute for Advanced Studies is the newest of the five academically-lead institutes within LANL. It was formed in 2006 under a Teaming Agreement between the NMC and Los Alamos National Security, LLC (LANS, LLC), which operates LANL. The New Mexico Consortium consists of the University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, and New Mexico Tech.
There are four Thrusts Areas of the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS). These include Alternative Energy Development, Economic Technologies for Health Care, Threat Reduction, and Fundamental Scientific Inquiry.
Alternative Energy Development:
Dependent primarily on petroleum distillates and other fossil carbon sources of energy over the last century, it is now imperative that we develop new sustainable sources of energy, and more efficient technologies for energy distribution and use. This is critical to the economic and political health of the United States, and to the sustainability of the Earth’s environment. The IAS is currently co-leading an effort to propose a $125M, five-year Bioenergy Research Center that will advance the state-of-the-art in systems biology to up-regulate feedstock plant growth, develop more efficient methods of plant digestion into biofuels, and to develop new soil and water-based ecosystems to support sustainable plant growth at unprecedented levels. Other alternative energy sources are under consideration for development within the IAS as well. Water resource management, especially in the arid environments of the world is of central concern for sustainable growth and future large-scale bioenergy production, so this is a central interest within the IAS as well. All alternative energy development activities within the IAS must show the likelihood of economic viability, meaning that all efforts must credibly strive to ultimately achieve a market price-point that will compete with the current price of energy.
Emerging and Economical Technologies for Health Care:
The IAS seeks to fund new technology developments in health care that will achieve an improved standard of care, while simultaneously achieving a reduction in the cost of the associated medical procedures. Historically, technology infusion has greatly reduced costs and increased general performance in all non-medical markets, but this is true within only a few specific developments in health care. Health care costs have increased rapidly when the general population of the United States is ageing and becoming more sedentary and obese, compounding the likelihood of an upcoming financial crisis within the Entitlement Programs of the United States government. New medical and pharmaceutical technologies, including the use of novel isotopes for medical imaging, nanotechnology for more direct and efficient drug delivery, and new methods in microsurgery that use advances in medical imaging, promise to improve the standard of care as well as to decrease the long term health care costs of chronic diseases. This, along with rapid advancements in understanding of quantitative techniques in systems biology, and in computational techniques for the discovery of drugs that interrupt disease progression, may soon achieve less-expensive, scalable health care on a global scale throughout the world. Furthermore, advancements in understanding ecological biology and complexity are helping to predict, detect, and prevent the onset of new disease pandemics, greatly improving preparation for and mitigation of biological threats and advancing public health preparedness for future occurrences. The IAS will invest to leverage the development of diverse science and technology that advances this important thrust.
Threat Reduction:
LANL currently invests over $600M a year in threat reduction technology and systems development, and this is the most rapidly expanding sector within LANL today. These threats may be naturally occurring, such as in disease outbreak, earthquakes, and extreme weather, or they may be human-induced through the failure of energetic engineered systems such as dams, or intentionally caused by terrorism. The IAS invests to leverage efforts in sensor development, safeguards, and system studies. These investments are designed to prevent the proliferation of fissile materials and to protect critical infrastructure networks throughout the world. Engineering efforts develop robotics, sensor and imaging systems, and other critical technologies to support these threat reduction goals. Modeling of the complex interdependencies of society to determine threat sensitivities and countermeasures is central to this effort as well.
Fundamental Scientific Inquiry:
The IAS invests to leverage the outstanding opportunities at LANL and throughout the NMC to discover new sub-nuclear physics beyond the Standard Model, to explore how vast complexity results from such simple forces and organizational principles in chemistry and physics, and to understand how the properties of materials depend on size, ranging from very small clusters down to individual atoms. The ability to control quantum coherence between small numbers of interacting particles provides a new paradigm for processing information in ways impossible under the classical laws of physics, including quantum cryptography, quantum computation, and high precision sensors. The role of quantum coherence will play a crucial role in the understanding of important collective quantum phenomena in many new technologies at the nanometer-scale.
The Information Science and Technology Institute (University of California Santa Cruz)
The Information Science and Technology Institute is a collection of educational institutes covering a range of topics in the areas of:
• Information Science and Technology
• Computer Science
• Computational Science
The ISTI member institutes assist LANL in recruiting new employees in the Information Science area. The institute also will provide retention and revitalization activities for existing LANL staff including allowing LANL staff to pursue advanced CS degrees, take graduate level CS classes, mentor students, and teach classes and seminars. Additionally the ISTI will promote joint LANL/University collaborations which revitalize LANL staff. A concentration on joint collaboration that will lead to external joint funding opportunities will be emphasized.
The Information Science and Technology collaborates with many universities, other government agencies, and industry. Active collaborations include:
• The High End Computing advisory group on File Systems and I/O (HEC FSIO)
• DOE Office of Science SciDAC Petascale Data Storage Institute (PDSI)
• UC Santa Cruz Storage Research Center
• CMU Parallel Data Lab
• CMU Software Engineering Institute
• Stony Brook File Systems and Stg Lab
• U Mich Center for Info Technology Integration
• U Minnesota Digital Technology Center
• Sandia National Lab Scalable I/O
• Argonne National Lab Scalable I/O
• PVFS2 Parallel Virtual File System
• Clemson Parallel Architecture Research Lab
• LLNL Scalable I/O
• ORNL Scalable I/O
• PNNL Scalable I/O
• Wisconsin Scalable I/O
• IBM Almaden Storage Research
• Panasas Storage/File Systems
• Cluster File Systems Lustre Storage/File Systems
Tech Transfer Division
The Laboratory’s Technology Transfer (TT) Division helps move technologies from the Lab to the marketplace to benefit society and the U.S. economy by ensuring that Laboratory inventions receive intellectual property protection, which enables LANL to license technologies to industry and start-up companies. As the Laboratory’s liaison with industry, TT Division also manages Lab-industry research partnerships and serves as the Laboratory’s resource on industry relations.
Licensing
The TT Division negotiates and manages a broad array of cutting-edge technologies to private industry. TT Division seeks as licensees companies that can marshal the requisite financial, R&D, manufacturing, marketing, and managerial capabilities and commitment to successfully commercialize LANL innovations.
Once a Laboratory technology has been determined licensable, several types of agreements are available:
• Commercial
• Noncommercial
• Government use
Partnering
LANL develops partnerships and collaborations with industry, academia, and other research institutions that accomplish programmatic goals while benefiting the nation’s industrial and academic sectors. Through the TT Division, the Laboratory provides a variety of mechanisms to help it establish these relationships, including agreements for cooperative research and development, personnel exchange, non-disclosure of proprietary information, and non-federal work for others. The Laboratory also has user facility agreements that allow its partners and other entities to conduct research at many of its unique facilities.
Entrepreneurship and Regional Opportunities
TT Division also helps northern New Mexico’s business community best serve the needs of the Laboratory and its surrounding communities by developing new ways to use emerging Laboratory technologies to stimulate high-tech business start-ups, create job opportunities, and attract business and capital to the region.
Los Alamos National Laboratories
http://www.lanl.gov
Technology Partnerships and Licensing
Technology Transfer: (505) 665-9090
Small Business Program: (505) 667-4419
Ombuds Office: (505) 665-2837
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The College also offers to working adults undergraduate programs in the Evening and Weekend Degree Program in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Bachelor of Science degrees in Computer Science and Information Techonology are offered in Santa Fe (473-6177) and at College of Santa Fe in Albuqueque (884-2732). A B.S. degree in Environmental Science is offered at the Albuquerque campus.
ENMU-Ruidoso offers community education classes, customized training workshops, adult basic education courses, and operates a One-Stop Career Center providing free employment services for employers and job seekers.
New degrees and certificates continue to be added to campus offerings each year. The number and diversity of online classes continues to increase with about 100 courses available online each semester. Currently, the campus offers a complete online Associate of Arts degree in University Studies.