Sandia National Laboratories
and Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
have signed an agreement to conduct and share research of mutual interest.
Areas of immediate importance named in the memorandum of understanding include
photovoltaics, nanoelectronics, nanomaterials and computational investigations
of the properties of materials. Collaborations are expected to include staff
exchanges between the two labs and information-sharing through jointly held
workshops.
Rick Stulen, Sandia vice president for Science and Technology and Research
Foundations, and Tamotsu Nomakuchi, president of AIST, signed the agreement
on May 4 in the Department of Energy’s Washington, D.C., headquarters.
Present at the signing were Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry
Toshihiro Nikai and DOE Secretary Steven Chu.
A tour at Sandia the previous Saturday was led by Sandia’s Bob Hwang
and Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Andy Shreve, director and codirector,
respectively, of the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a DOE Office of
Science project run jointly by the two national laboratories. The tour included
Sandia President Tom Hunter along with Namakuchi and Nikai.
Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed
Martin company, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security
Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif.,
Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental
technologies, and economic competitiveness.
Posted May 26th, 2009
