The Research Park represents a cooperative effort involving Los Alamos County, the Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corporation, the Regional Development Corporation, the Laboratory and the private sector. The Research Park is expected to house 1,500 researchers in a new laboratory and office campus complex, adjacent to Technical Area 3, the Laboratory's main administrative area. LACDC, the local non-profit economic development organization, has overall responsibility for the planning, financing and management of the Research Park.
Richard Mah, director of the Industrial Business Development Program Office at the Laboratory, said, "We're pleased to have Tony in this important position where he will be at the heart of interactions among evolving Research Park companies, Laboratory researchers and management, and the LACDC. His impressive credentials-as a researcher, an organizer, a communicator and a savvy businessperson-make him ideally suited for the position."
As Research Park project leader, Beugelsdijk will have overall Laboratory responsibility for identifying potential collaborative research-and-development projects with Research Park companies; assisting the LACDC in marketing the Research Park to prospective tenants, including small or large industrial, academic, or other laboratory partners; and encouraging Laboratory employees to participate in collaborative relationships with external partners.
Kevin Holsapple, executive director of LACDC, said, "We're very pleased with the Lab's support for the Research Park project. I believe that Tony will be a very effective partner in helping us make the Research Park into a positive economic development engine for Northern New Mexico."
Holsapple said initial steps toward construction on the first building of the planned Research Park started Dec. 15, while on-site construction began Feb. 14. The Research Park will be on 44 acres leased by LACDC from the DOE. The Research Park is designed to house high-tech and research-and-development companies and organizations that can benefit from locating next to the resources and scientific talent of the Laboratory.
Beugelsdijk said, "I look forward to helping the Laboratory meet the important challenges of Research Park project collaboration. Working with LACDC and members of the Laboratory community, I'm sure that we will make the park a success for the tenants, the region and the Laboratory. The goal is that everyone benefits from the increase in ideas and synergistic creativity that are possible through scientific collaboration and exchange."
Beugelsdijk will report to Dave Foster, program manager for regional business development within the Laboratory's IBD Program Office. Beugelsdijk brings with him a broad range of experiences that have prepared him well for the job. Since 1998, he has been serving as a Laboratory Industrial Fellow at Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. Prior to that, Beugelsdijk established and led the Laboratory's robotics and automation program and managed the development of more than 20 robotics systems, including systems that map human chromosomes in support of the Human Genome Program. He received a Los Alamos Distinguished Performance Award in 1996 for this work.
Prior to joining the Laboratory in 1984, Beugelsdijk worked as a senior analytical chemist with Shell Development Company in Houston. He is also the author of more than 50 papers on laboratory automation and has received four patents. Beugelsdijk is a co-founder and director of the Association for Laboratory Automation and an organizer of the annual LabAutomation, EuroLabAutomation and smallTalk conferences.
Beugelsdijk received his bachelor of science from Wichita State University and his master's and doctorate in analytical and inorganic chemistry, respectively, from the University of Illinois, Urbana. More recently, he received his master's in business administration from the University of New Mexico.
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is operated by Los Alamos National Security, LLC, a team composed of Bechtel National, the University of California, The Babcock & Wilcox Company, and Washington Group International for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.
