Overview

Since 1998 Sandia's Cooperative Monitoring Center has hosted a unique Visiting Research Scholar (VRS) Program that brings together international subject-matter experts to conduct joint research and analyses on policy and technology challenges related to global security concerns of the US government and its international partners. Often, the invited scholars represent opposing views with a goal of their research to include openly examining and developing collaborative confidence building measures between their countries and within their region. While at the CMC, the international Visiting Research Scholars work closely with Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) subject matter experts and others to develop, promote, and implement concepts and technical cooperation on a wide range of international security issues.

Simply put, the goal is to enable regional experts to determine their own problems, to devise indigenous solutions, and champion their implementation. Another key mission of the CMC is the development and management of cooperative technical research projects on a host of topics.

Over the years, the VRS Program has engaged scholars from a numerous countries and regions in East Asia, the Middle East, South Asia, the Americas, and Central Asia on a broad range of topics including arms control, nonproliferation, confidence and security building measures, border security, maritime security, and environmental management. In addition to written research papers on these topics, a number of studies have been successfully leveraged into real-world technical engagements and project implementations.