Dr. Justin Olmstead, Sandia National Laboratories

Dr. Justin Quinn Olmstead is a historian for Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  His most recent book “From Nuclear Weapons to Global Security: 75 Years of Research and Development at Sandia National Laboratories.”  Dr. Robert Oppenheimer helped launch the Sandia Labs, which is an engineering laboratory for the nation’s nuclear deterrence. President Harry Truman was directly involved in setting up the Lab, whereas President Eisenhower initiated the Plowshare Program to explore the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and the Atoms for Peace program in 1957.  Sandia supports global security by working with US agencies, the UN’s IAEA, and several of the United Nations treaties, such as the Non-Proliferation Treaty that focuses on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to avoid nuclear proliferation.   Sandia has been “ hands-on” in helping mitigate the BP Oil Spill, Fukushima Disaster, Challenger explosion, the rapidly devastating climate crisis and the 9-11 destruction.