Sandia National Laboratories & The University of Texas at Austin Research Partnership

Sandia National Laboratories is a world-class research and development community that delivers national security missions while advancing the frontiers of science and engineering. The formal partnership between UT Austin and Sandia National Laboratories, part of the Sandia National Laboratories University Partnerships Network (SUPN), allows UT faculty and researchers to navigate Sandia’s many resources, facilitate new research connections, and strengthen the Sandia-UT student researcher talent pipeline. These teams solve significant problems that neither institution could address alone through combined key academic disciplines, relevant research capabilities, and a strong commitment to national security.

Opportunities to Collaborate

Sandia funds several projects annually at UT through its Laboratory Directed Research & Development (LDRD) program. This program offers Sandia’s scientists and engineers and UT researchers the opportunity to identify and pursue innovative solutions to our most challenging national security problems. The LDRD program seeks to invest in high-risk, potentially high-payoff activities that enable national security missions and advance the frontiers of science and engineering. 

Sandia's LDRD program has provided more than $18 million research dollars to UT since 2016, and more than $3 million in 2023 alone. This includes supplemental LDRD awards. Supplemental awards are meant to seed teams primed to pursue larger projects and successful external funding opportunities. These smaller "seed" projects often facilitate new collaborations between faculty, student researchers and Sandia PIs. Project ideas are submitted by Sandia PIs with consideration of the expertise of UT Austin participants. UT Austin faculty or student researchers who are interested in being considered for a seed project should complete the Sandia-UT Austin Collaboration Request expertise form.  

Getting Started

Collaborations start with making connections between researchers with mutual interest and complementary expertise. The Collaboration Request Form collects relevant information, so UT and Sandia staff can determine how best to connect researchers. This form is a great starting point for either UT or Sandia researchers who are interested in collaborating but may not know where to begin. The UT and Sandia partnership team review these submissions and help make connections.

For questions or for ideas, UT researchers can contact Sara Hernando, assistant director for research engagements, at ResearchCollaborations@austin.utexas.edu, and Sandia staff can email Nadine Miner, Sandia’s campus partnership manager at neminer@sandia.gov.

Find out more about Sandia's fiscal year 2025 research needs at Sandia University Partnerships Network FY25 LDRD Calls and Research Needs (PDF). 

Sandia Resources

Sandia - UT Austin Partnership Information Session Deck
2022-2023 Collaboration Report
Sandia Academic Alliance Newsletter
Student and Post-doc Opportunities
Current Research at Sandia Science & Technology User Facilities Energy Facilities Validation & Qualification Sciences Experimental Facilities