Contact: Monty Jones, (512) 499-4363

Date: January 31, 2002

UT System News Release

Coordinator Named For Sandia National Laboratories Proposal

AUSTIN - Dr. Charles A. Sorber, an environmental engineer and former president of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, was appointed Thursday (Jan. 31) to coordinate the U.T. System's proposal for management of Sandia National Laboratories.

Sorber will oversee the System's planning in anticipation that the U.S. Department of Energy will open the Sandia management contract to bids early this year. If the contract is opened for competition, Sorber will then continue to coordinate the System's proposal to DOE to take over management of the labs.

The current management contract, held by Lockheed Martin since 1993, expires in September 2003.

"Chuck Sorber is ideally positioned to coordinate the U.T. System's continuing initiative to assume management of Sandia National Laboratories," said R. D. Burck, chancellor of the U.T. System. "He has a wealth of experience as an academic leader, administrator, and engineer with a deep understanding of the strengths and diversity of the U.T. System as well as the key national mission of laboratories such as Sandia."

Sorber served as president of U.T. Permian Basin from 1993 to 2001. Prior to that appointment, he served for seven years as dean of the School of Engineering and professor of civil engineering at the University of Pittsburgh.

Before that he was on the engineering faculty of U.T. Austin. He was associate dean of engineering from 1980 to 1986, as well as director of the Engineering Science Program from 1981 to 1986. From 1975 to 1980, Sorber was director of the Center for Applied Research and Technology at U.T. San Antonio. He also was acting director of U.T. San Antonio's Division of Earth and Physical Sciences from 1977 to 1980.

Prior to entering academia, he served 14 years in the United States Army in a variety of assignments in the U.S. and Europe as an environmental engineer. He was director of the Environmental Quality Division of the Army's Medical Bioengineering Research and Development Laboratory at Fort Detrick, Md., from 1973 to 1975. From 1971 to 1973 he served as commander of the Army Medical Environmental Engineering Research Unit at Edgewood Arsenal, Md. During his military service he was awarded three Meritorious Service Medals.

Sorber holds three degrees in engineering -- bachelor's and master's degrees from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. from U.T. Austin.

He is a member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers, has been active in the American Association for Engineering Education, and is a former president of the Water Environment Federation. He continues to hold a tenured position on the faculty at U.T. Austin.

In 1999 he was appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to the Board of Scientific Counselors for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Diseases Registry. As a member of the board, he advises HHS and ATSDR on fulfilling the agency's mission of prevention of human health effects from exposure to toxic substances.

Sandia National Laboratories was established in Albuquerque, N.M., in 1949 as an outgrowth of the Manhattan Project. Sandia designs all non-nuclear components for the nation's nuclear weapons, performs a wide variety of energy research and development projects, and works on assignments that respond to national security threats - both military and economic. Sandia has two primary facilities, a large laboratory and headquarters in Albuquerque with more than 6,600 employees, and a smaller laboratory in Livermore, Calif., with 850 employees.

The U.T. System is the largest higher education entity in Texas and one of the largest in the nation. The System's nine general academic universities and six health science institutions enroll more than 160,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional school students. The System accounts for 36 percent of public university enrollment in Texas and 73 percent of health institution enrollments. Component institutions award over one-third of all bachelor's degrees, almost half of all doctoral degrees, and perform almost two-thirds of all college and university research in the state. Research expenditures across the System total more than $1 billion per year.