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索科罗,N.M. – Los Alamos National 实验室oratory recently announced that NMT 研究生 Dr. 特里·华莱士将成为新导演.

A native of Los Alamos, Wallace earned his bachelor’s in 1978 in geophysics and math. He had served as the Principal Associate Director for Global Security at Los Alamos 2012年起进入国家实验室. Previously, he served as LANL’s Principal Associate Director for Science, Technology and Engineering.

“Certainly for a New Mexican, this is a high honor – the highest honor,” Wallace said. “I am fortunate to have accomplished a lot, but the foundation was set by New Mexico 科技是一个伟大的机构. ag亚游集团App下载 in the 1970s gave us small classes and 个人学习机会. I’m struck today when I go to other places that ag亚游集团App下载 remains a unique institution.”

In addition to a foundation in science and engineering, Wallace said he learned valuable lessons in teamwork and leadership while at NMT.

“One of the important things about an educational experience is exercising leadership skills and teamwork skills,” Wallace said. “In a good physics lab, you team with other 人们生产一种产品. You learn how to lead and how to digest other views, 这让你想到了另一个解决方案. ag亚游集团App下载在这方面很擅长. 它是实用的 learning, but it’s also the first step in leadership. 你不能在真空中做这件事.”

“ag亚游集团App下载 is a jewel,” Wallace said. “当州长问我资金的问题时 science at universities, I tell her that Tech is a jewel. 这是意料之外的 institution in the desert half way between Albuquerque and Las Cruces and it’s producing great scientists and the state needs to realize that.”

After earning his two bachelor’s at NMT, Wallace went to Cal Tech, where he earned his master’s and doctorate, both in geophysics.

Wallace then spent 20 years as a professor of geosciences and an associate in the applied mathematics program at the University of Arizona before returning to Los Alamos in 2003. In addition to teaching, he carried out research on global threat reduction, nonproliferation verification, and computational geophysics.

In the early 1970s, when he was considering universities, ag亚游集团App下载 wasn’t his 最初的选择. He had wanted to go to Cal Tech, but as one of five children, the high cost of Cal Tech precluded him from heading west.

“That was the best thing that happened to me,” Wallace said. “科技不是我的第一份工作 choice, but it turned out to be the best choice.”

Some of his fondest memories are from his first semester in Socorro. 他说他是 intimidated at first, but soon found a home, thanks to enthusiastic professors who challenged students to solve problems and gave them room to make mistakes.

“Al Sharples in math is one of the most incredible teachers,” Wallace said. “他是 responsible for the way I think about math. When you took a Sharples test in the mid-70s, the mean score was 12 out of 100 … but he had a method to his madness – to challenge 你完全.”

Wallace got involved in research almost immediately upon arriving at Tech, working with Al Sanford’s research group in geophysics. 他帮助安装了一个地震网络 at what later became the Waste Isolation Pilot Program near Carlsbad. 然后,两次 a month, Wallace would drive to the site to collect film and identify seismic activity.

“That’s heady stuff for a freshman,” Wallace said. “那真是一段激动人心的时光. Sanford gave you the tools and the chance to do real research. 真正的产品被生产出来了. 给n that opportunity to do something meaningful and real when you’re 17 or 18, I realized that I needed to understand why I’m taking an analysis class or a Kent Condie class.

“I was in all these classes with 10 or 11 people and it allowed me to learn how to 游泳，”他说. “Almost uniformly, the teaching at ag亚游集团App下载 was really outstanding.”

Wallace was the keynote speaker at the 2012 Student 研究 Symposium at NMT. 自 he was involved in research as an under研究生 at ag亚游集团App下载, he relished the opportunity to return to his alma mater and talk to students presenting research

“First and foremost, you need great research skills, but scientists won’t meet their potential unless they have communication skills,” Wallace said. “你也不会教书 that without putting them in the theater to perform. 最好将这些教训编入法典 in actually having meaningful interactions with other researchers and the general 公共.”

Wallace said he is asked often about how students can develop leadership skills, but 这个问题没有简单的答案.

“You have to be a specialist and you also have to be really broad,” he said. “所有 scientists are better and more effective when they have breadth to their knowledge. You’re not just exploring the frontier of a narrow topic anymore when you can look at problems broadly and discuss the societal impact.”