The Network for Collaborative Research Impact (NCRI) is a new initiative of the Office of the Vice President for Research, Scholarship and Creative Endeavors that brings together UT researchers with a shared vision of enhancing interdisciplinary research across the campus. Spanning departments, colleges, and units, this community explores dynamic questions, engages in bold research, and provides unique programming. Our aim is to provide a network for collaboration.

Sandia University Partnerships Network aims to solve significant problems that the lab could not address alone by partnering with universities that possess key academic disciplines, relevant research capabilities, and a strong commitment to national security. The program provides enormous potential benefits for Sandia, the partner universities, all involved researchers, and for students interested in cutting-edge Laboratory Directed Research and Development. Universities currently in the Sandia University Partnerships Network include Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, Purdue, University of California, Berkeley, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of New Mexico, and University of Texas at Austin.

Annually, Sandia funds several “seed” projects at UT Austin to facilitate new collaborations between UT Austin faculty, student researchers and Sandia Principal Investigators (PIs). For the past 6 years, the LDRD investment at UT Austin has totaled over $1M per year. Additional UT Austin research funding through Sandia Mission Campaigns (MCs) and Grand Challenges (GCs) are another way of bringing together the world-class work of the two institutions.

The LDRD program offers Sandia’s scientists and engineers 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. As Sandia’s sole source of discretionary R&D funding, the LDRD program provides the flexibility to anticipate and respond quickly to future mission needs and to explore potentially revolutionary advances in science and technology. Learn more about LDRD.

The Laboratories encourage scientists to conduct short-term, joint research with university faculty on sabbatical or during the summer. Faculty must be invited by a Sandia sponsor and can have limited-term employment at the Labs from four weeks to one academic year. The appointments provide meaningful work to professors widely recognized as authorities in their field, make valuable contributions to Sandia’s technical research, and promote university relations. Candidates are recruited nationally for summer appointments.

Salary, round-trip travel, and per diem are provided. Available positions can be found on Sandia’s Careers webpage. Select “View All Jobs” then search for the word “faculty” and follow application instructions.

Sandia staff participate on university external advisory boards across the nation, and experts from universities serve on Sandia advisory boards. Sandia also encourages its staff to serve as adjunct professors at regional and other universities.

The Academic Alliance partnership between UT Austin and Sandia Labs enables joint proposal submissions for externally funded programs/projects.

Sandia offers several types of internships: Summer, Year-Round, Co-Op, and Critical Skills in a number of different Technical Institute Programs. Learn more about Sandia’s Student Internships.

Sandia offers various fellowship opportunities to exceptional individuals in support of our national security mission. We offer opportunities for fully funded graduate degrees as well as self-directed research. Learn more about Fellowships at Sandia.

Sandia’s postdoctoral program provides opportunities to work with top scientists and engineers using state-of-the-art instruments and tools. Postdoctoral appointees conduct leading-edge research, publish and present their findings, collaborate with others in academia and industry, and contribute to the advancement of technology in a wide variety of scientific fields. Learn more about Postdoc positions at Sandia.

Event: 2023 Sandia Day at UT Austin

Description: On Wednesday, March 8th and Thursday, March 9th, 2023, the University of Texas at Austin hosted Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) for “Sandia Day at UT Austin” with the intention of reviewing, planning and shaping ongoing and future collaborations in key areas that reflect each organization’s joint priorities and strengths.

The primary sessions of Sandia Day consisted on day one of a half-day tour of various Pickle Research Center facilities and a networking happy hour at the conclusion of the day. Day two consisted of leadership meetings and a research poster session and lunch. The leadership meetings were broken up into morning and afternoon sections. The morning provided an overview of the partnership and then presentations by both Sandia and UT Austin representatives in areas of research strategic priorities: Grid Resiliency, Examining Climate Change, and Microelectronics. In the afternoon, the group discussed growth opportunities in the following research areas: nuclear and radiation engineering, pulsed power and fusion physics, and digital engineering, specifically as it related to materials discovery and advanced manufacturing.

The event brought together more than 85 UT and Sandia participants including executive leadership, researchers, faculty, staff, and students.

Date: March 8-9, 2023

Event: FY23 Sandia LDRD Kickoff

Description: Sandia led an informational meeting which engaged over 35 UT PIs interested in Sandia's FY23 LDRD call for collaborators. OVPR served as a resource and answered questions on UT's end.

Date: December 7, 2022

Event: Sandia National Laboratories Tech Talk

Description: Charley Hanley, Senior Manager Grid Modernization and Resilient Infrastructure, will present a talk about Grid Modernization and Energy Storage, Challenges, Priorities and Key Projects at Sandia National Labs. He will discuss high profile and high impact projects that support our vision of what a world with advanced grid features can do.

Date: January 25, 2022

Event: Sandia National Laboratories Information Session

Description: This information session will provide an overview of collaborative mechanisms, and feature speakers from two strategic LDRD areas: (1) Trusted AI Strategic Initiative LDRD investment area and (2) Energy and Homeland Security LDRD Mission Foundation.

Date: November 3, 2021

Recording and Slides: Here are the links to the presentation recording and slides. We recommend downloading the mp4 file to view the recording.

Event: Sandia National Labs Informational Briefing

Description: The purpose of this event was to introduce Dr. Nadine Miner, Sandia’s UT Campus Partnership Manager (CPM), and Hannah Stagebye, Partnership Development Specialist, who provided an overview of Sandia, the Academic Alliance partnership, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD), and ways UT researchers van collaborate with Sandia researchers.

Date: May 19, 2021

Recording and Slides: Here are the links to the presentation recording and slides. We recommend downloading the mp4 file to view the recording.