Sandia National Laboratories has announced that 22 members of their Division 8000 staff members have been promoted to the Distinguished level, including UNM Rainforest Innovations’ Board Chair Sandra Begay.
Promotion to the Distinguished level is reserved for remarkable staff members acknowledged as leading experts at the Labs and for demonstrating outstanding leadership in their professions. These members must also set an example for Sandia’s People & Culture initiatives, embodying the three key Sandia behaviors: being connected, courageous, and purpose driven.
Sandra has worked for Sandia as a Researcher beginning in 1992 and she is Sandia’s subject matter expert (SME) on American Indian and Alaska Native tribes working towards renewable energy development. She has worked with around 20 tribes across the country to help them develop 10-year vision, strategy, and action plans. Additionally, she initiated the Sandia-DOE (Department of Energy) Indian Energy Internship Program for American Indian students where she has mentored 50 students studying engineering, energy, and the environment. More recently, she joined the prestigious advisory council of Stanford University’s Doerr School of Sustainability to accelerate its mission of learning more about the earth, climate and society and generating sustainability solutions.
Congratulations to Sandra on this significant achievement!