Latest news with #Sandia
Business Wire
08-07-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Sandia National Laboratories Collaborates with Aeva to Strengthen Security at Nuclear Reactor Sites
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aeva® (Nasdaq: AEVA), a leader in next-generation sensing and perception systems, today announced that Sandia National Laboratories has completed its evaluation phase of Aeva's 4D LiDAR technology. Following the previously announced selection of Aeva's technology, Sandia is planning to test Aeva's technology at a U.S. nuclear reactor site to evaluate its performance to enhance security and assess threat detection capabilities. These include for potential intrusions in the perimeter areas of the facility, such as water intakes that are important for safe reactor operation. 'Supporting the security of nuclear reactor infrastructure requires constant innovation,' said JR Russell, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories. 'Aeva's 4D LiDAR gives us a new tool to detect potential threats in challenging environments where traditional sensors often fall short. Its ability to operate reliably in darkness, glare, and complex weather conditions makes it well-suited for our mission.' Aeva's 4D LiDAR was selected for its ability to detect hard-to-see waterborne objects, such as partially submerged or low-contrast intrusions, at distances up to 35 meters. Powered by Aeva's proprietary Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) technology, the system provides precise 3D positioning with simultaneous velocity data, enabling faster more reliable threat identification. Aeva's sensors deliver round-the-clock operational capabilities. They function in complete darkness, through glare and sunlight, and in challenging weather conditions such as fog, rain, and dust—making them ideally suited for securing infrastructure sites. 'We're pleased to be selected by Sandia following extensive evaluations. We're entering the next phase with the testing of our industry-leading LiDAR to help secure nuclear sites,' said James Reuther, Chief Engineer at Aeva. 'This marks a key milestone, not only for this program, but for the broader adoption of Aeva's 4D LiDAR for use across infrastructure security including nuclear facilities, airports, and power plants nationwide.' Aeva's work with Sandia National Laboratories underscores the growing demand for advanced perception solutions in national security applications. As threats become more complex and conditions more variable, Aeva's LiDAR-on-chip platform is enabling a new era of Physical AI for safeguarding essential assets. About Aeva Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: AEVA) Aeva's mission is to bring the next wave of perception to a broad range of applications from automated driving to industrial robotics, consumer electronics, consumer health, security and beyond. Aeva is transforming autonomy with its groundbreaking sensing and perception technology that integrates all key LiDAR components onto a silicon photonics chip in a compact module. Aeva 4D LiDAR sensors uniquely detect instant velocity in addition to 3D position, allowing autonomous devices like vehicles and robots to make more intelligent and safe decisions. For more information, visit or connect with us on X or LinkedIn. Aeva, the Aeva logo, Aeva 4D LiDAR, Aeva Atlas, Aeries, Aeva Eve, Aeva Ultra Resolution, Aeva CoreVision, and Aeva X1 are trademarks/registered trademarks of Aeva, Inc. All rights reserved. Third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Forward looking statements This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words 'believe,' 'project,' 'expect,' 'anticipate,' 'estimate,' 'intend,' 'strategy,' 'future,' 'opportunity,' 'plan,' 'may,' 'should,' 'will,' 'would,' 'will be,' 'will continue,' 'will likely result,' and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this press release include our beliefs regarding our product features, performance and our relationship with a top national laboratory. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including, but not limited to: (i) the fact that Aeva is an early stage company with a history of operating losses and may never achieve profitability, (ii) Aeva's limited operating history, (iii) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations and to identify and realize additional opportunities, (iv) the ability for Aeva to have its products selected for inclusion in OEM products and (v) other material risks and other important factors that could affect our financial results. Please refer to our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Form 10-Q and Form 10-K. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Aeva assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Aeva does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
From beer filtration to organic food chambers, national labs tout New Mexico's unique business ecosystem
Jun. 29—It's a warm Friday evening on the patio of a brewery, the sun is setting beyond the Sandias and you order a pilsner to finish off your week — but when your beer arrives, it's black and cloudy. "Your brain is inherently thinking: wrong. You know the sound from 'Jeopardy,' right? 'Errr!' You know: wrong," La Cumbre Brewing Co.'s Founder and President Jeff Erway said. "Same thing. If someone hands you a really, really cloudy beer when you ordered a pilsner, that's just wrong. It's not supposed to look like that." Beer clarity is "innately tied" to beer quality, Erway said. La Cumbre and a slew of other local breweries are working with Los Alamos National Laboratory on filtration technology that would clarify beers using silent ultrasonic waves. The experiment is part of a New Mexico Small Business Assistance program, or NMSBA. NMSBA is a joint venture by LANL and Sandia National Laboratories to offer state-of-the-art federal resources and technology to small companies for free. The labs have done everything from helping create prototypes that can quickly peel the skin from chile to improving medical testing with nuclear magnetic resonance technology. The companies keep the work as their own intellectual property. The projects can't already be commercially available to get NMSBA program help. The locally tailored program, paired with other resources available to small businesses in the state, makes New Mexico's business ecosystem unlike any other in the nation, said Julia Wise, manager of regional programs at LANL. "No other state has taken the time to figure out how to do this with their national labs or thought about connecting their businesses with their national labs in this way," Wise said, adding that NMSBA can act as a model for other labs to follow. NMSBA started as a partnership between the state and national labs in 2000. Since then, NMSBA has provided $80.6 million in technical assistance to more than 3,200 businesses, according to the national labs. To qualify for NMSBA assistance, a company must be a for-profit, located in New Mexico, file gross receipts taxes to the state and be considered a small business per U.S. Small Business Administration guidelines. Then, a company can go after individualized support, getting up to $40,000 in technical assistance, or work with multiple companies — which La Cumbre is doing — to get up to $120,000 in technical assistance on a shared project. La Cumbre is working with four additional breweries — Santa Fe Brewing Co., Beer Creek Brewing Co., Ex Novo Brewing Co. and Taos Mesa Brewing — on its project. The project itself focuses on ultrasonic wave filtration technology. Erway said La Cumbre currently uses Stokes' Law for its fermentation process, a fluid dynamics principle that helps breweries understand and predict how quickly quality-degrading components like yeast will fall through a solution — beer, in this case. Then, the company speeds things up by adding specific chemical agents, which Erway said many small breweries do. But breweries wouldn't have to add those chemical agents under the NMSBA filtration project. Erway described the tech as a "novel way" of forcing yeast and other particulates to fall out of solution much faster, by introducing ultrasonic waves. The lab described the early stages of the ongoing project as successful, something that could improve both the quality of beer as well as add years to its shelf life. The experiment only filters about 10 ounces of beer at a time, and Erway would need 4,000 gallons of beer filtered at once to commercially adopt it. Still, if the tech ever finished its testing phase and was available at scale, Erway would want to see if the investment is worth it for adoption. La Cumbre is already doing great, he said, but he's fascinated by the technology. "I still, to this day, do not understand how it's possible, except (the lab investigator has) shown me videos of it working," Erway said, laughing. The technology can go beyond the brewery scene, Erway said. He pondered how it could affect desalination, a way to treat saline water that state and industry officials are exploring as a partial solution to the nation's dwindling water resources. "It would have enormous uses anywhere," Erway said. Mighty seeds Over in Rio Rancho, Sharon-Joy Palmer-Caughren came to LANL asking for help in a different area: optimizing high-tech food-growing module prototypes. She's worked on the prototypes for years but wanted to take it a step further with NMSBA help. She said the collaboration helped optimize "Mighty SEED," an organic food production chamber. Now, a patent is pending, and Palmer-Caughren anticipates a commercial launch in September. "What we're doing with the laboratory, it's really unique," she said. "It's unique expertise in their environmental sciences department." Mary Monson, senior manager of technology partnerships and business development at Sandia Labs, said the collaborative nature is her favorite part of the program. "That's what I love about this state — everybody jumps in and contributes what they have," she said. Like Wise, she emphasized that only New Mexico offers this kind of small business support. "We're all rooting for these companies," Monson said.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New Mexico funds $20 million ‘STEM Institute' aimed at improving student scores
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It's tens of millions of dollars approved by New Mexico lawmakers for a project very few people even know about. A new STEM Institute is the most expensive earmark to come out of this year's capital outlay bill. Story continues below Crime: Two ABQ police officers placed on leave in critical pedestrian crash on Central Real Estate: 'Nothing short of a personal resort' luxury property listed for $12M in Santa Fe National: 'I'm sincerely sorry': Billy Joel cancels all concerts due to brain disorder diagnosis The state is trying to close the gap in New Mexico, where students are underperforming in math and science, with the new institute that would be built in Albuquerque. 'We are finally once and for all directing our state dollars that we have available in the right direction,' said Senator Michael Padilla, (D-Albuquerque). The state is already pouring $20 million into the idea, the most money any single capital outlay project got this last session. The money will go toward planning, design, and construction. Managing the project, the New Mexico Higher Education Department said the 'institute' will help address gaps in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Over the 2023-24 school year, the state said only 23% of New Mexico students were proficient in math, and just 38% in science. The planned STEM institute would provide tutoring and more for students in fourth through eighth grade. 'I mean, if you looked a decade ago, just a decade ago, we were probably half that rate at that point. So, if you take a look at it from that standpoint and we're making these investments now, I'm looking to see this 23-25% bump all the way up to 40-50%,' said Sen. Padilla. The Public Education Department is expected to run the institute, which has no specific location at this point. HED said whatever gets built will 'equip the next generation with the critical thinking, problem solving, and innovation skills' needed to succeed in an evolving workforce. 'Border Plex, Los Alamos, Sandia, a quantum economy, all of these things that are coming into the state now are going to make a huge difference, but they're not going to make a difference if we don't have a STEM workforce,' said Sen. Padilla. KRQE News 13 tried to talk to the governor's office, the Department of Higher Education, and the state Public Education Department about the STEM Institute, but no one would do an interview at this point. They emphasized that the $20-million project, so far, is still in the planning phases. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Sandia Labs, Kirtland AFB update public on environmental restoration work
May 3—Thirty years ago, Sandia National Laboratories had 300-some sites in New Mexico with contaminated groundwater. Three contaminated groundwater sites remain today. The U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense held a state-required semiannual meeting Tuesday in Albuquerque to update the public on environmental restoration work Sandia Labs and Kirtland Air Force Base are doing. Much of the contamination being cleaned up by the entities dates back to a time before federal environmental regulations — when the labs and Air Force base were in operation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had not yet been established. "All the DOE labs, they started after World War II, and it's because of those activities starting from the '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s," said Jun Li, a Sandia Labs environmental professional. "(The) '80s was the time that we had the federal (regulatory) laws." Now, the federal agencies work with New Mexico to clean up whatever contamination still remains from decades ago. "I really do think DOE labs are really ahead of the curve, trying to clean up," Li said, adding that weapons labs around the nation are tasked with cleaning up contamination from past activities. The three groundwater sites Sandia is actively cleaning up or monitoring today cover parts of the Manzanita Mountains east of Albuquerque, as well as the north-central and west-central parts of Kirtland Air Force Base and Sandia Labs, according to presentations on display. All the sites have nitrate contamination, a naturally occurring and man-caused substance that, in high levels, poses risks to human health. The carcinogenic compound trichloroethylene, or TCE, was also present in some cases. Sandia will continue monitoring all three sites, likely for decades, according to the labs. Officials say none of the contamination sites present risks to human health because the groundwater isn't used for drinking purposes. On the other side of the room, Kirtland Air Force Base had presentations on display for its five major active cleanup sites, which included groundwater and soil contamination, specifically for nitrate and TCE, and landfills. One site in particular, located on the Air Force Base, is in the early phases of an investigation. U.S. Air Force engineer Begnaud Moayyad said the questions that need to be answered include figuring out what the contamination is, its source, how widespread it is, how toxic it is relative to drinking water standards and if it presents risks to human health. Another flagged site, this one focused on soil contamination, exists on the northwestern part of Kirtland Air Force Base, near the Sunport. Contamination on the site, formerly used for aircraft movement and parking, potentially stemmed from the release of fuel, lubricants and degreasers, according to Kirtland. The base identified the contamination in the '90s, not finding any excessive levels, but still treated the contamination, according to the Kirtland presentations. Cleanup operations took place from 1999 through 2019. The base stopped because it no longer detected contamination, said Darren Knight, a program manager at the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center. The New Mexico Environment Department in 2020 requested the base continue monitoring groundwater and vapor concentrations. Knight said Kirtland has already drilled two new groundwater wells and expects state approval to drill additional vapor monitoring wells. "The reason why it takes so much time is because you have to follow a lot of regulations," Knight said.
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Richard L. Coats "Dick" February 14, 1936 - December 14,
Apr. 19—Richard L. Coats "Dick" February 14, 1936 — December 14, 2024. Richard L. Coats "Dick" was born February 14, 1936 in Madill, Oklahoma. Dick attended high school in Durant, Oklahoma and Suitland, Maryland. Dick attended the University of Oklahoma on a Naval scholarship. Upon graduating, Dick was accepted to the Naval Nuclear Power Program at Mare Island in Vallejo, California by Admiral Hyman Rickover. Upon completing his PhD., Dick was hired at Sandia National Laboratories in 1966, where he eventually became a division supervisor. While at Sandia, Dick was involved in several nuclear research programs which included the development of new nuclear test reactors, conducting nuclear safety studies on both current power reactor designs, and also proposed new types of power reactors for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). During his career at Sandia, Dick was awarded the title of Distinguished Member of Technical Staff (DMTS). Dick was also the program manager for the Moly-99 medical isotope program, which resulted in a start up company in the private sector with several of his esteemed co-workers from Sandia. In addition to being a brilliant nuclear physicists and engineer, Dick was a talented artist and hobby gardener. Dick will be greatly missed by his family and his former co-workers from Sandia. Dick is survived by his loving wife of 67 years Gloria and by his four children: Cindy (husband Barry), Rick, Robin, Beth and his two devoted Bichon Frises. Per Dick's request, there will be no services.
