Los Alamos National Laboratory is partnering with schools in the Four Corners region (an area the size of West Virginia where Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah share a border) to help carry out regionally relevant research and train a new generation of scientists.
Building on relationships inaugurated as a part of the Los Alamos-led Four Corners Rapid Response Team (RRT)—which seeks to help mitigate the barriers that keep communities from accessing funds earmarked to support transitions away from fossil fuel-based economies—the Laboratory is strengthening relationships with schools such as Navajo Technical University (NTU) in Crownpoint, New Mexico, and San Juan College (SJC) in Farmington, New Mexico.
Los Alamos scientist Prashant Sharan, who recently collaborated with NTU on a hydrogen-related project proposal, says that schools can be valuable research partners as the Laboratory provides technical support to Four Corners communities.
“Los Alamos is situated very far from some of these communities, so we don’t understand the problems they’re facing,” Sharan says. “Universities can play a massive role in helping us to understand and also in educating communities on energy issues and opportunities.”
With an enrollment of more than 1,300 students, NTU is the largest tribal university in the United States. Initially focused on providing workforce training in business and office work, culinary arts, computer science, and construction trades, NTU’s academic programs have proliferated since its founding as the Navajo Skills Center in 1979. Today, NTU offers 20 certificate programs, 25 associate degrees, 19 bachelor’s degrees, 3 master’s degrees, and 1 doctorate.
“Our degree program offerings are primarily based upon what the needs of the Navajo Nation are,” says Colleen W. Bowman, NTU’s provost. “As we create new programs, we must consider where the jobs will be for our graduates.”
Bowman explains that NTU and other tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) face unique challenges in seeking to expand. For one thing, federal grants are often structured in ways that make it difficult for TCUs to use the grants to hire needed faculty. Moreover, tribal governments can’t issue bonds that could fund the construction of academic buildings, student housing, and other key infrastructure at TCUs.
“We have a lot of strong STEM programs, but we have limited space for learning or for laboratories,” Bowman says. “That’s one of the biggest concerns we have when we talk about expanding our partnerships.”
Andrea Maestas, a program manager in the Laboratory’s Applied Energy Program Office, says that although NTU students were already coming to Los Alamos for internships, one benefit of the RRT has been the increasing visibility of the Laboratory’s collaboration with schools such as NTU.
“Laboratory outreach is typically focused on surrounding communities. But with Rapid Response, we’ve broadened the scope,” Maestas says.
With a goal to create career opportunities in hydrogen fuel cell technology, in 2023, the Department of Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office sponsored the Native American Fellowship, a pilot program exclusive to NTU. (The fellowship expands on the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program and will also support equipment purchases for NTU’s Center for Advanced Manufacturing, a state-of-the-art research and development facility.) At Los Alamos, interns are studying different aspects of hydrogen fuel cell design, including materials engineering and additive manufacturing.
Bowman says that she hopes to see NTU’s relationship with Los Alamos expand into areas that go beyond the sciences to encompass work in the trades and administrative work as well. She says that although NTU, like other tribal colleges and universities, is still working to anticipate future energy needs in the region, the school is eager to train students to meet those needs.
“How can we prepare students to be experts in technologies like hydrogen? And how can we do that with Indigenous knowledge at the table?” Bowman says. “I think a lot about questions like these.”
SJC, which was founded in 1956, is a two-year institution that educates more than 8,700 students each year, the majority of whom are from historically underrepresented groups. For decades, SJC’s School of Energy has helped prepare students for energy careers in the Four Corners’ fossil fuel economy.
Alicia Corbell, dean of SJC’s School of Energy, says that one challenge the Four Corners is facing is the departure of former fossil fuel workers from the region. “When it was first announced that the San Juan Generating Station would be closing, a lot of workers sought jobs outside the area,” Corbell says. “We continue to see that out-migration of workers.”
SJC is helping retain, and retrain, former fossil fuel workers for new kinds of energy careers. In 2019, New Mexico’s legislature identified SJC as the state’s Center of Excellence of Renewable Energy and Sustainability. The school has used the funds that came with this designation to develop programs in electric vehicle maintenance, lithium-ion batteries, hydrogen power, and water security and sustainability.
In addition to building connections between the Laboratory’s energy researchers and SJC’s energy programs, the RRT has also increased students’ awareness of national security–related opportunities at the Laboratory. "As part of our Rapid Response effort, we have brought San Juan College and NTU faculty to Los Alamos for lab tours and to learn about our student programs and other workforce development opportunities," Maestas says. "Now the Laboratory is more than just something they've heard about—it's a place they have visited and can encourage their students to explore."
Corbell says that she’s glad to see the relationship between SJC and the Laboratory grow. “They have just welcomed us with open arms,” she says of Los Alamos. ★
Academic partners
In addition to Navajo Technical University and San Juan College, Los Alamos National Laboratory has relationships with many other colleges and universities—including those listed below—around New Mexico. The Laboratory works with these institutions to develop degree programs, train the workforce of the future, educate teachers, and more.