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August 09 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine
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Duncan McBranch: Partnerships expand the Lab’s reach
Photo by LeRoy Sanchez
As a capabilities-based Laboratory we must sustain a strong base of science, technology, and engineering expertise to respond to emerging national security challenges. This issue of Currents highlights the importance of partnerships in keeping Los Alamos at the leading edge.
The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, featured in the cover story, is a unique user facility,
funded by the National Science Foundation, where we have applied our expertise in high magnetic
field science and pulsed-power engineering. We also have honed this expertise through some very
fine staff and a decades-long partnership with Florida State University and the University of Florida.
Like our other user facilities, the NHMFL draws the best scientists and students in this field to Los
Alamos, enriching our international scientific connections.
Partnerships also are central in extending from invention (creating a new idea) to innovation (creating
a technology impact in the wider world). Our MBA intern program, now in its 12th year, is a unique
effort to provide opportunities for MBA students to train with Los Alamos scientific and business
experts to analyze science inventions for their technology innovation potential.
Our LabStart program, in its first year, is another unique partnership. We work with national leaders in
venture capital to incubate new businesses from Laboratory technologies. The LabStart entrepreneur-in-
residence, Russ Hopper, seeks and polishes new inventions to the point that they can be the basis
of viable start-up companies. LabStart will then build a
business and management team outside the Lab with the necessary experience and funding to be successful.
And our R&D100 awards continue to provide a strong demonstration of our technology excellence and are a focal point for new cooperative research partnerships with industry and government sponsors.
Taken together, these examples show how, even in the most challenging business environment in decades, our strong connections to the outside technical and business communities can help sustain important scientific capabilities at Los Alamos.
--Duncan McBranch, deputy principal associate director for Science, Technology, and Engineering
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