SWE Distinguished New Engineer
Ann Dallman, Ph.D.
Sandia National Laboratories
For significant technical contributions to several fields; for leadership and advocacy in the community and in SWE; and for the critical thinking and clear communication that inspires success.
Ann (“Annie”) Dallman, Ph.D., is a principal research and development engineer at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, working in nuclear nonproliferation. Her experience has spanned numerous technical areas and applications, including high-performance computing, computational fluid dynamics, field and laboratory studies, renewable energy, data assimilation, aerosol science, turbulence scales, and optical signal analysis.
She gained experience and knowledge in these areas at Sandia, as well as through her academic coursework and through several summer technical internships at Sandia, GE Energy, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. She holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University, an M.S. in mechanical engineering from Arizona State University, and a Ph.D. in civil engineering (environmental fluid dynamics) from the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Dallman began her career with Sandia as a postdoctoral researcher in renewable energy.
During her time at Sandia, she has undertaken assignments that were not in her area of expertise at the time. Yet her willingness to broaden her research and quickly learn about new fields proved beneficial for both Dr. Dallman and Sandia. As she developed her technical abilities, project management skills, and leadership experience, she became the principal investigator (PI) of a wave energy research project funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) as a postdoctoral researcher.
After being promoted to R&D staff, Dr. Dallman represented Sandia in 2015 on what became a three-year assignment to the DOE’s Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO). She served as a key technical advisor to the WPTO’s flagship program, the Wave Energy Prize, and provided input on the development of short- and long-term strategies and reviews of technical progress by industry awardees of DOE funding. She was also selected by DOE’s WPTO to represent the United States for the International Energy Agency’s Ocean Energy Systems committee during that time.
A more recent project provided the opportunity to research aerosol sciences in order to take over a PI role and lead a program review. The next year, when Sandia sought to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company turned to its aerosol scientists to help investigate novel materials that could be used for personal protective equipment. Dr. Dallman provided near real-time data analyses for testing completed at Sandia as part of the New Mexico Small Business Assistance program, which discovered novel filter material that was eventually used to produce masks for first responder and other communities. Some of Dr. Dallman’s additional recent roles include being the Sandia PI of two large multi-laboratory nuclear forensics projects.
Dr. Dallman has been a member of SWE for 18 years and has held leadership roles as both a student and professional. She joined SWE first as a collegiate in 2003, and her experience focused on leading graduate committees, which later grew into a more widespread GradSWE program. She joined the Central New Mexico Section as a professional member in 2014, and is currently the section’s scholarship co-chair. She mentors collegiate students as well as new professionals, and represents SWE as the liaison to the New Mexico Engineering Foundation.
She is a council member of the Sandia Women’s Action Network, an employee affinity group. Dr. Dallman serves on the New Mexico Engineering Foundation board and holds memberships with several professional societies related to her work.
Dr. Dallman has been married to her husband, Casey, for seven years, and they have a 1-year-old son.