Georgia Tech and Sandia sign a five-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) that formally establishes a strategic collaboration between the university and the Department of Energy’s National Security Lab. The partnership aligns the two institutions’ shared goal of solving science and technology challenges of national importance.

The partnership will span several technical focus areas of common interest to Sandia and Georgia Tech researchers, including energy and grid security, advanced manufacturing, computer science and data analytics, microsystems and sensors, cybersecurity and materials science.

The goal of the MOU is to engage talented researchers to work on practical, complex problems early in their academic careers and to introduce new ideas and technologies into the marketplace through jointly developed intellectual property.

President G.P. “Bud” Peterson said the collaboration with Sandia builds upon and expands Georgia Tech’s world-class research capabilities.

“This MOU furthers Georgia Tech’s research strategy, which is focused on the pursuit of transformative research, strengthening collaborative relationships and maximizing the economic and societal impact of our research,” said Peterson.

Georgia Tech and Sandia have long-standing collaborative relationships with Sandia in many areas, including computer science and advanced computer architectures, energy systems, manufacturing and materials science. Many Georgia Tech students and faculty spend time at Sandia, while Sandia counts many Georgia Tech graduates among its staff members.

The MOU will provide opportunities for students and faculty to experience research work at a national lab; enable joint recruiting of top graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty; increase transfer of technology from Sandia and the university to the private and federal sectors; and build collaborations that address nationally significant problems.

Future opportunities for joint faculty appointments and for research sabbaticals are expected to further deepen the collaboration.

“It is exciting to see the long-term collaboration between Georgia Tech and Sandia move to an even higher level,” said Jill Hruby, vice president for Energy, Nonproliferation & High-Consequence Security at Sandia.  “I’m confident the common culture and research interests at our institutions combined with the focus that comes from this MOU, will produce innovative solutions and high quality research.”