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Social Scientist Andrew Koehler

Creating an Integrated Facility-Program Model for the Modern Pit Facility

Andrew Koehler

Andrew Koehler isn't in a scientific discipline you'd expect to see in a student in Nuclear Materials Technology (NMT) Division-he's a social scientist.

But while his research is unusual for NMT Division, what he's proposing will help the Laboratory's nuclear weapons program better plan for the future.

As a postdoc in Pit Disassembly and Nuclear Fuels Technologies (NMT-15), Koehler is looking at institutional issues, Laboratory organization, the Department of Energy regulatory environment, and program execution to create an integrated facility-program model for TA-55's Modern Pit Facility.

His goal is to come up with something the Laboratory can use to make long-range strategic plans to ensure performance, analyze regulatory compliance issues, and train personnel. His simulation model will take into account possible shifting regulatory and social mandates, as well as changing government support and shifting priorities.

"You can look at it like enterprise modeling in the private sector," said Koehler. "Take UPS, for example. It tracks how a package moves, the errors that might occur, and the costs, as well as random events that may affect getting the package where it should go. "

"Los Alamos has a process system with lots of uncertainties, just like UPS, only the Lab's system involves hazardous materials, waste streams, lots of regulations, and changing government priorities," said Koehler. "These things change all the time, and they cost time and money."

Koehler's integrated facility-program model would bring together several established simulation techniques to create an interactive, realistic simulation.

Process modeling would be used to analyze fabrication activities to describe the flow of materials through the operations steps performed at the Modern Pit Facility.

Visualization and sound modeling, like that used in commercial entertainment software, would capture the experience of working in the facility.

Agent modeling, used in military simulations, would describe how information is managed inside the facility, and how regulators and other sources of requirements actually behave.

Koehler has worked at Los Alamos for four years. He spent several summers as a graduate research assistant, 18 months as a GRA in NMT Division's Office of Planning and Scheduling, and began his postdoctoral appointment in April.

Andrew Koehler and his advisor Caroline "Cas" Mason discuss Koehler's integrated facility-program model. Mason describes her mentoring style as one of "benign neglect" when it comes to self-motivated postdocs like Koehler.

He attended the University of California-Berkeley, where he earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics and a doctorate in public policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy. His dissertation, based on research performed at Los Alamos, was titled "Design For a Hostile Environment: Technical Policymaking and System Creation."

Koehler calls K.C. Kim and Sophie Vigil of the NMT Division Office his guardian angels. "Sophie because she made dealing with many of the complexities of the Lab easier; K.C. because he helped guide my research. He went above and beyond his duty in making my dissertation happen," said Koehler.

Koehler's current advisor, Caroline "Cas" Mason, is helping in a similar way. "She's very easygoing, but extremely protective of my time and opportunities as a postdoc," said Koehler.

Mason, a chemist, was recently named team leader for Russian Programs-Plutonium Conversion Project in NMT15. She has mentored numerous students, from summer students to postdocs, in her 26 years at the Lab.

While every student has different needs, she describes her basic mentoring style as one of "benign neglect," especially when it comes to postdocs.

"My philosophy with postdocs is that they can run their own lives," said Mason. "They've received doctorates, which require a great deal of self-motivation, and I don't think they need very close attention."

"In Andrew's case, if I attend a meeting with him, it's not because he needs the guidance, it's because I find his research interesting," said Mason. "Of course, I try to be available for him whenever he has questions or concerns."

On a scale of one to ten, Koehler rates his Lab experience as eight and one-half. "The Lab has opened up research opportunities I wouldn't have had otherwise," said Koehler. "Social scientists don't often get to work at national laboratories."

As to life in the town of Los Alamos, Koehler admits it's "unlike any place I've lived before."

A native of the other LA-Los Angeles, he currently lives in Santa Fe with his wife, Rosemary Sallee.

Koehler summed up his Los Alamos experience this way: "I see my research project as a way to pay the Lab back-to help it do what it does and do it more robustly. It's a win-win situation."

Stories by Meredith S. CoonleyPhotos by Mick Greenbank (NMT-16).


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