Climbing the Technical Ladder at Sandia National Laboratories

Climbing the Technical Ladder at Sandia National Laboratories Cynthia A. Phillips Discrete Algorithms and Complex Systems Dept. CRA-W Advanced Mentoring Workshop 11/14/08 Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC 04 -94 AL 85000.

Who am I? • AB in Applied Mathematics from Harvard • Ph. D in Computer Science from MIT • Part-time work at Thinking Machines Corp in grad school • Joined Sandia National Laboratories as a senior member of technical staff (SMTS) in 1990. • Principal MTS in 1998 (when current ladder instituted) • Distinguished MTS in 2000 • Always in research. Dept name evolved through reorganizations – Theoretical computer science – Optimization and uncertainty quantification – Algorithms and discrete math – Discrete mathematics and complex systems Slide

Mathematical Mercenary • Parallel combinatorial optimization • Polyhedral combinatorics • Experimental algorithmics • Scheduling • Manufacturing and transportation planning • Computational biology • Computer security • Network reliability • Social network analysis • Sensor placement in networks (roadway, water) • Quantum computer architecture design Slide

National Laboratories Environment (Research) • More applied than academia – Impact on problems important to the nation • Less driven by the bottom line than industry • Wealth of research questions • Flexible scheduling • Pay tracks to industry • Every hour charged to a project – Get funding to do what you want to do • Resources (supercomputers, rocket sleds, particle-beam fusion accelerators, …) • Annual formal merit review Slide

Sandia Technical Ladder • Levels – Member of Technical Staff (MTS) • Senior (SMTS) Assistant professor • Principal (PMTS) Tenured associate professor • Distinguished (DMTS) Full professor – Senior Scientist – Fellow • Quotas as move up • Formally based on – Technical ability (breadth and/or depth) – External visibility – Customer contacts/program development – Creativity – Leadership of people, projects, programs Slide

Impact • Quantifiable impact on an important project – Solve a problem you couldn’t before – Solve a problem significantly better than before • Frequently involves code – People use it (especially for important things) • Bringing in funding • Publications • Patents • Major awards (e. g. R&D 100) Slide

Visibility • Talks are an opportunity to shine – Annual department review – Any external review of project or group – Dog & Pony shows for potential or current sponsors • Tailor your talk to your audience • Want them to walk away with – Your one-line technical message – A sense of your competency, vision, integrity, and passion • They don’t care about the details as much as you do • Topic selection (when an option): management attention span Slide

Mentorship • When starting out, attach to a good mentor – Deliver for them – Take advantage of the association to become visible – Learn from them • Then get out from the shadow and lead your own project – Managers tend to associate a project only with the leader • Then become a mentor yourself – Leading a group of others is important – You get to lead by bringing in money – You get to lead by being technically capable and delivering Slide

Other Pluses • Good writing skills – Write clearly and quickly • Be a resource • Have a good network inside and outside the lab – Know who to ask • Keep up with the literature Slide