If what they need are more lightning bolts then they may need to branch out - For instance I’ve heard Los Alamos has higher than average incidence of lightning.

If what they need are more lightning bolts then they may need to branch out - For instance I’ve heard Los Alamos has higher than average incidence of lightning. It sounds more like they’re short on funds and students. It might be hard to draw students with the large vacuum of the tech industry sucking up all the best talent. So maybe they need a private industry “pivot”? Ie look for applications which could lead to patents and companies looking to develop them into products? Just articles like this are good though for drawing public interest.