Robinson Sets Sights on LANL

In a move that may land him the directorship of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, C. Paul Robinson has resigned as director of the nearby Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque to assist defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp with the company’s bid to take over management of LANL from the University of California. Lockheed has operated Sandia for the US Department of Energy since 1993 and Robinson has been the lab’s director since 1995.

Robinson told the Sandia staff when he resigned in mid-April that the Lockheed bid will list him as the LANL director and he will hold that position if Lockheed wins. UC, which has managed Los Alamos since 1943, is expected to compete with Lockheed in the bidding. At press time, UC officials were concerned about several new DOE rules and had not committed to making a bid. The University of Texas, which earlier considered bidding for the LANL contract, was considering joining the Lockheed bid, but had also been in discussions with UC.

Thomas Hunter, Sandia’s senior vice president for defense programs, will replace Robinson as Sandia’s new director. Hunter has been at the lab since 1987.