Sandia National Labs Academic Programs Collaboration Report

Jill Hruby receives honorary doctorate from Purdue Purdue’s College of Engineering honors former Sandia Labs Director and current NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby

“Alliances with academia are an important part of ensuring Sandia remains at the forefront of engineering excellence.”

Jill Hruby became Sandia’s director in 2015 and was the first woman to occupy this position at a national lab. She retired from that role in 2017 and was confirmed as Under Secretary for Nuclear Security at DOE and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration. In this role, Hruby oversees efforts to sustain the country’s nuclear stockpile by providing new technologies to lower costs, remain ahead of our adversaries and develop advanced capabilities to enhance nuclear security, arms control and Navy reactors. DOE Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm supported Hruby’s nomination and said, “Jill is one of DOE’s very best success stories — she rose through the ranks at Sandia National Labs to become the first woman to lead a national security lab, and now she’s the perfect person to head up our efforts to maintain a safe and reliable nuclear deterrent and protect our national security. She is a brilliant leader, a model public servant,

and an inspiration to engineers and rising stars everywhere.” Hruby was a major force behind Sandia’s formalized academic partnerships program. At her first State of the Labs presentation in 2015, she said it would take trusted partnerships and alliances to meet the evolving challenges the nation faces in a complicated 21st-century world. “We can’t be insular. Alliances with academia are an important part of ensuring Sandia remains at the forefront of engineering excellence.” Hruby received an honorary doctorate in 2022 at Purdue’s spring commencement after receiving her mechanical engineering degree there in 1981.

36

Academic Programs