P. Randall Schunk, Ph.D.

 

Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories from 1989 - 2024 (recently retired)

 

(Note – this website is my personal endeavor and is completely independent of, and not endorsed by, Sandia National Laboratories.)

 

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Appointments:

 

2009-2024 National Laboratory Professor, University of New Mexico, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

 

2025-2026. Research Professor, University of New Mexico, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

 

2018-2024 Senior Scientist, Sandia National Laboratories, Materials and Engineering Research Center

 

2024 - present Community Scholar, Reasons to Believe (www.reasons.org)

 

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Education

 

1989 PhD, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis MN.

 

1984 BS, Chemical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO

 

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Personal Statement

 

The main technical focus of my career has been manufacturing science, as it applies to many different materials, processes, and products. I spent my first 24 years in the Engineering Sciences Center at Sandia, but then moved on to manage the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program (LDRD, under the Chief Research Officer) in 2013 and 2014, and also served as the line manager of the department that manages Sandia’s discretionary R&D portfolio. In 2015 I moved to Sandia’s Advanced Materials Laboratory on the University of New Mexico south campus, where I managed a Sandia R&D materials science department that specialized in inorganic materials synthesis, thermal processing, and advanced manufacturing. I was appointed as a Senior Scientist in the Materials, Chemical and Physical Sciences Center in 2019 and also served as a National Laboratory Professor in the Chemical and Biological Engineering department at UNM since 2009, managing a research group that specializes in developing advanced models for materials-manufacturing processes.

 

Throughout my career at Sandia my work focused on the fundamentals of process science and manufacturing. Among many activities in this space, I led two industrial consortia aimed at developing modeling and simulation tools to address manufacturing and process science, with a focus on polymer and related processing, thin-liquid film coating, and colloidal/nanoparticle dispersion (ink) processing. The consortia have involved more than 15 companies, including 3M, Corning, and Procter and Gamble. I have also been heavily involved in additive manufacturing and printed electronics, specialty metals processing, welding/soldering/brazing and more in support of multiple Sandia programs. I have more than 60 publications and book chapters on these and related topics. On a national level I served on the Joint Defense Manufacturing Technology Panel (JDTMP) under the office of the Secretary of Defense, and have participated in numerous leadership activities with Manufacturing USA, specifically the America Makes and NextFlex innovation hubs.