Work Background and Areas of Expertise:

Sal first worked at Idaho National Laboratory and then Los Alamos National Laboratory during the 80s and 90s. He currently works at Sandia National Laboratories, with nearly 30 years of service. He is also Chief Science Officer for Applied Surface Engineering in Albuquerque. His areas of expertise include computational fluid dynamics, turbulence, swirl, nuclear engineering, and high-temperature, high-strength materials known as refractory high-entropy alloys (RHEAs).

 

Degrees:

• PhD in Nuclear Engineering, University of New Mexico, 2011. Dissertation passed with distinction.

• PhD in Philosophy and Apologetics, Trinity Seminary and College, 2005. Dissertation passed with distinction.

• M.S. in Applied Mathematics, University of New Mexico, 2004.

• Scientific & Engineering Computation Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, 2000.  University of New Mexico Center for Advanced Research Computing and Sandia National Laboratories.

• M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Idaho, 1993.

• B.S. in Nuclear Engineering, University of California at Santa Barbara, 1985.

 

Top Technical Achievements:

• In 2023, Sal’s copyright he developed while at Sandia National Laboratories was used to dimple a high-power competition rocket; post-flight data showed the drag coefficient had a maximum drag reduction of 39.1% vs. the undimpled rocket.

• In 2023, an aluminum plate dimpled with Sal’s copyright generated up to 2.4 times more heat transfer vs. an undimpled plate.

• He is collaborating with a company specializing in dimpled pistons for improved diesel combustion. Independent tests show the pistons generate 54% less NOx.

• The dimpling copyright was used in 2017 to dimple a full-scale Mustang.  Subsequent computational fluid dynamics conducted at Sandia National Labs showed a 25% reduction in aerodynamic drag vs. the undimpled model.

• Sal has developed theoretical models for high-energy turbulence, isotropic turbulence decay models, vortex models, and dynamic swirl injectors for more environmentally-benign combustion.

• Other achievements during 2023 through 2024 include manufacturing the world’s largest RHEA components, two granted patents for new RHEA composition development and heat exchangers, development of ductile RHEAs, invention of over two dozen RHEAs for aerospace, fission reactors, and fusion reactors, and the first-ever, binder-jet manufacturing of RHEAs.

 

Awards:

• 2024 R&D 100 Award, is an honor given to the top 100 world-wide technologies.  For 2024, at least 16 countries competed from Europe, Asia, and North America.  Hence, the award has earned the descriptive “Nobel Prize of Engineering” and “Oscars of Innovation”; www.rd100awards.com.  Sal was the technical lead and principal investigator for the project, “Machinable, Larger-Scale, Self-Healing RHEAs for Energy and Aerospace Applications”, which involved new RHEA composition development, design, advanced manufacturing, and testing.

• Awarded the prestigious Great Minds in STEM (GMiS) “Scientist of the Year” Award in 2023 for his work in dimpling, computational fluid dynamics, and RHEAs. This is GMiS’s highest award, and is the first time anyone in New Mexico wins this award, and likewise for any National Laboratory of the US Department of Energy.

• Awarded the 2025 “National Award of Nuclear Science and History” for achievements in RHEAs, aerodynamics, turbulence, computational fluid dynamics, and STEM participation.  The congratulatory letter explains Sal's award, “this prestigious award based on your work as a scientist, visionary, and exemplary role model of what it means to be a STEM professional”.  Previous awardees include Glen Seaborg, Murray Gell-Mann, Senator Pete Domenici, Admiral Kirkland H. Donald, and Ambassador Paul Robinson, etc. The entire list is at https://www.nuclearmuseum.org/support/einstein-gala/national-award-of-nuclear-science-history.

• Awarded the Division 8000 Employee Recognition Award in Technical Excellence for work in RHEAs.  This is Sandia National Laboratories’ highest award, with Sal as the team lead and principal investigator.

• 2024 Received the Distinguished Alumni Award for Nuclear Engineering, University of New Mexico. The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor given by the University of New Mexico’s School of Engineering.

• Sal was project and technical lead for team that received the “Outstanding Innovation Award” from Intellectual Property Management at Sandia National Laboratories, “in recognition for innovative culture and Intellectual Property generation for ‘High entropy alloys, refractory high entropy alloys, methods of selecting and making, and structures formed thereof’”, 2021.

• Project and technical lead for team that received the “Outstanding Innovation Award” for NMSBA project “Metal Alloy and RHEA Additive Manufacturing for Nuclear Energy and Aerospace Applications”, Sandia National Laboratories, 2020.

• Project and technical lead for team that received the “Outstanding Innovation Award” for NMSBA Project, “Computational Fluid Dynamics of the Tucumcari Methane Plant”, Sandia National Laboratories, 2017

• Sal was inducted in 2021 to “The Sandian 300+”, a list of the top all-time Sandia National Laboratories inventors.

 

Publications:

• Sal has written over 260 reports, white papers, presentations, conference papers, and journal papers at Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratories, and Idaho National Laboratories.

• His proudest publication is his book, “Applied Computational Fluid Dynamics and Turbulence Modeling”, which is highly praised by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.  The book has over 24,000 downloads in 80 countries and 190 universities, and a 4.8-out-of-5-star rating.

 

Other recent documents include:

• S. Rodriguez and P. Vorobieff, “Dimple-Enhanced Eddy Production and Redirection for Increased System Performance”, Sandia National Laboratories, SAND2024-10629O, 2024; to be published at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

• S. Rodriguez, “Advanced Manufacturing of Refractory High-Entropy Alloys Using Binder Jetting”, Sandia National Laboratories, SAND2024-11323, 2024.

• S. Rodriguez, “Recent Advances in Dimpled Surfaces for Enhanced Aerodynamics and Heat Transfer”, Sandia National Laboratories, SAND2024-07085M, 2024.

• S. Rodriguez et al., “Machinable, Larger-Scale, Self-Healing Refractory High-Entropy Alloys for Energy and Aerospace Applications”, Journal of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, under review; SAND2024-06578O, 2024.

• S. Rodriguez et al., “Larger-Scale Manufacturing of Room-Temperature Ductile Refractory High-Entropy Alloys”, Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Science.  In process as of 2024.

• S. Dixit, S. Rodriguez, …., “Refractory High-Entropy Alloy Coatings for High Temperature Aerospace and Energy Applications”, Journal of Thermal Spray Technology, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp 1021-1031, JTST-21-11-4870.R1, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11666-022-01324-0, SAND2021-15954J, 2021.

• S. Rodriguez, “Validation and Verification for the Right Sized Dimpling Technology”, Sandia National Laboratories, SAND2019-7194PR, 2019.

• S. Rodriguez, N. Grieb, and A. Chen, “Dimpling Aerodynamics for a Ford Mustang GT”, Sandia National Laboratories, SAND2017-6522, 2017.

• S. Rodriguez, “Optimized Surface Dimpling for Commercial Vehicles, Aircraft, and Energy Applications” for Innovate New Mexico Technology Showcase, Sandia National Laboratories, SAND2017-10990 M, 2017.

 

Patents and Cool Ideas:

Sal has 17 Technical Advances, two copyrights, three patents, and six pending patents in the areas of dimpling, enhanced aerodynamics and heat transfer, and high-temperature/high-strength RHEAs.

 

His proudest intellectual property achievement, which he developed while at Sandia National Laboratories, is the “Right-Sized Dimple Evaluator”.  This is useful for calculating the dimple geometry most suitable for aerodynamic drag reduction and enhanced heat transfer for subsonic to hypersonic systems, and is applicable for any system fluid under turbulent flow.

 

His RHEA patents, which he developed while at Sandia National Laboratories, have significantly extended the advanced manufacturing and testing of RHEAs from the millimeter and centimeter length scales, now to the decimeter scale.  Development and testing of ductile RHEAs was conducted for about a dozen compositions from the literature, as well as several new alloy compositions based on Sal’s patents. This effort climaxed in a world-record-length component manufactured during 2023 and an R&D 100 Award.

 

Articles, Documents, and Videos about Sal Rodriguez’s Work:

Sal’s innovations are featured in Forbes Magazine, front page of the Albuquerque Journal, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Sandia Labs News Releases, UNM, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and many others.

• Forbes Magazine, “To Make Rockets Fly Farther, Dimple Them Like Golf Balls”, E. Tegler, January 30, 2024.  https://www.forbes.com/sites/erictegler/2024/01/30/to-make-rockets-fly-farther-dimple-them-like-golf-balls/?ss=aerospace-defense&sh=4aec0db4b435.

• Albuquerque Journal front page, “Rocketing to the Top”, R. Boetel, September 18, 2023.

• The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, “Better Airflow and Heat Transfer, Thanks to Dimples”, Louise Poirier, March 21, 2024.  https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/better-airflow-and-heat-transfer,-thanks-to-dimples.

• Sandia National Laboratories R&D 100 Refractory High-Entropy Alloy Nomination, www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIEUnXVaXmM, May 2024.

• Sandia Labs News Releases, “Sandia and UNM collaborate to build more efficient rocket”, K. V. Quintana, January 25, 2024.  SAND2024-02387M. https://newsreleases.sandia.gov/dimpled_rocket.

• Sandia LabNews, “Changing the World One Dimple at a Time”, Vol. 76, No. 2, K. V. Quintana, January 25, 2024.  www.sandia.gov/labnews/2024/01/25/changing-the-world-one-dimple-at-a-time.

• University of New Mexico School of Engineering, Keynote Speaker, Spring 2024 Convocation, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ63iuLYhDE (Intro: 43:58-46:25, Speech: 46:26-56:43).

• Sandia Labs News Releases, “Sandia employee named Scientist of the Year”, K. V. Quintana, September 13, 2023.  https://newsreleases.sandia.gov/scientist_award.

• University of New Mexico, “Aerodynamic Dimpling for the Nose Cone of a High-Power Competition Rocket”, Master’s Thesis, G. Monroe, 2023.

• American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, “Applied Computational Fluid Dynamics and Turbulence Modeling”, J. Riglin and B. Reid, February 23, 2021.  https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/pdf/10.2514/1.J060595.

 

STEM Volunteer:

Sal is the founder and lead presenter of the Sandia Science Club in Albuquerque, where he has instructed over 700 students to date. Sal also served the Sandia Laboratories MANOS program for 20 years, providing STEM presentations to over 1,200 students and reaching another 1,000+ students during Career Day at over a dozen elementary, middle and high schools. For this STEM volunteer effort, he was awarded the “President’s Volunteer Service Award” in 2013.