‘Oscars of Innovation’ lauds Sandia Labs
Seven R&D 100 Awards in national tech competition
Sandia National Laboratories landed seven R&D 100 Awards this year in an annual national technology competition often referred to as the “Oscars of Innovation.”
The awards program began in 1963, and bills itself as the only science and technology competition that recognizes new commercial products, technologies and materials that are available for sale or license for their significance.
Sandia, in a news release, outlined its winning projects as follows:
■ Creating more Secure-Firmware Over-the-Air for vehicles allowing enhanced protection installed as a plug-in in each car at its manufacturing plant and remotely managed by the manufacturer, without inconveniencing vehicle owners.
■ Developing Slycat, which makes sense of huge amounts of computer modeling ensemble data by integrating data management, scalable analysis, abstract visual representations and remote interaction through a web-based interface.
■ Co-designing a Wave Energy Converter Simulator (WEC-Sim) that can lead to a better understanding of how devices convert the motion of waves into usable energy and fare in the open sea.
■ Co-developing AeroMINE, a stationary wind harvester that can provide distributed electricity generation with no external moving parts. It can complement rooftop solar set-ups and provide affordable, reliable power to warehouses, box stores, commercial buildings, military bases and remote locations, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
■ Assembling anti-COVID-19 neutralizing antibodies that should be able to offer easier manufacturability, versatility, smaller size and the ability to bind to more than one target site to increase potency and resistance to viral mutants. The method has not yet been tested on humans.
■ Developing RAPTR N95, a reusable and rapidly producible N95 respirator for medical applications that can be completely disassembled for sterilization, decontamination and component replacement.
■ Creating the Quantum Scientific Computing Open User Testbed, offering scientists free access to the only open quantum computer based on trapped ions, to advance quantum computer science.
Sandia researchers also were awarded a Gold Special Recognition in Green Technology award for a method that uses environmentally harmless citric acid in tandem with carbon dioxide to detoxify coal tailings and a Silver Corporate Social Responsibility award for the previously mentioned RAPTR N95 respirator.