Connor Nuibe Heads to Sandia National Labs
Connor Nuibe is a third-year student in the BS/MS program, pursuing a double major in Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics. Having already completed his bachelor’s degree requirements, he’s now focused on finishing his master’s by Spring 2026. This summer, he will begin working at Sandia National Laboratories through the highly competitive Critical Skills Recruiting (CSR) Program, which supports graduate education while offering an immersive professional experience.
Connor’s love for math began early. “Math always seemed like solving a puzzle to me, and I’ve always enjoyed that,” he says. By middle school he was already two years ahead in math, and he completed Partial Differential Equations—a course most engineering students encounter in college—before graduating high school.
Studying applied mathematics alongside engineering was a natural choice, allowing him to explore the mathematical foundations of areas like signal processing and electromagnetics. He’s especially drawn to statistics, linear algebra, and differential equations. “I see PDEs everywhere,” he notes.
In addition to his coursework, Connor has conducted research in condensed matter physics with the Boehme Group, where he helped analyze data that contributed to a published paper.
Connor discovered the CSR Program at a job fair in Spring 2024. After an interview and a visit to Sandia’s Albuquerque site, he learned just how competitive the program was—over 400 applicants, around 50 interviews, and only 10–30 students accepted. “I was honestly surprised,” he says, “but I was also extremely excited.”
Connor credits his success to both academic excellence—maintaining a 4.0 GPA across two rigorous majors—and a broad range of experiences, from working at a gas station to interning in a corporate environment. “Math is crucial in any quantitative job,” he explains. “Producing numbers without understanding their meaning is worthless.”
At Sandia, Connor expects to join the Nuclear Deterrence Systems Electrical Test Group, which designs specialized electrical test circuits for validating the conditions of nuclear warheads. He’s eager to gain experience in research and development and sees this as a pivotal step toward a long-term career in research. He’s particularly motivated to explore emerging fields like machine learning and quantum computing, with the goal of contributing to projects that advance science and support national security.
His advice to other students? Build a strong foundation early: higher-level math relies heavily on your understanding of the basics. And for those considering opportunities like Sandia’s CSR Program, he encourages them to be proactive: tailor your résumé, network, and don’t be afraid to apply.
A native of the D.C. area and graduate of Syracuse High School in Layton, Utah, Connor exemplifies the excellence, intellectual curiosity, and ambition that define the University of Utah. We’re proud to celebrate his accomplishments—and excited to see where he goes next.
by Izabella Bourland