Regent Gutierrez Named a Center Director at Sandia

Story by Ken Frazier
Editor, Sandia Lab News
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ALBUQUERQUE -- Sidney M. "Sid" Gutierrez, president of the New Mexico Tech Board of Regents, has been promoted to Director of the Monitoring Systems Center at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, succeeding Jerry Allen who is retiring this month.

Roger Hagengruber, Sandia Senior Vice President for National Security and Arms Control, made the announcement Oct. 22. The appointment becomes effective Nov. 9.

Gutierrez came to Sandia in 1994 after a distinguished career in the Air Force and NASA, where he was an astronaut and flew on two space shuttle missions.

A native of Albuquerque, Gutierrez is a graduate of the US Air Force Academy with a B.S. in aeronautical engineering and of Webster College with an M.A. in management. He became an Air Force flight instructor and test pilot, flying F-15’s, F-16’s, and a variety of other aircraft.

Selected by NASA in May 1984, Gutierrez became an astronaut in June 1985. In his first space shuttle mission, he served as pilot of the Columbia on the crew of STS-40 Spacelab Life Sciences, a nine-day dedicated space and life sciences mission, June 5-14, 1991. On his second space flight, he served as commander of the Endeavour STS-59 Space Radar Laboratory mission, an 11-day flight, April 9-20, 1994, dedicated to the study of the Earth and its atmosphere.

Gutierrez retired from NASA and the Air Force in 1994 with the rank of colonel, returned to Albuquerque, and joined Sandia. He served as manager of the the Labs' Strategic Initiatives and Airborne Sensors and Integration Departments. He currently is manager of the Physical Sciences Department and a Level II program manager for both applied technologies and information technologies.

Gutierrez's term of office as a member of the New Mexico Tech Board of Regents expires on January 1, 2007.