Anthony Garland

Applied Machine Intelligence Staff, Sandia National Labs
“ATLAS Chat: Leveraging Generative AI for NationalSecurity Missions”

Session Materials: Link

Session Recording: Link

Speaker Bio: 

Dr. Anthony Garland is an AI Research Leader at Sandia National Laboratories, where he develops agentic AI systems for complex engineering challenges in manufacturing and scientific discovery. With over six years of machine learning research expertise, he translates cutting-edge AI into production solutions. Dr. Garland has his PhD in Mechanical Engineering and a Master’s of Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University.

Abstract: 

Atlas UI 3 is an open-source, full-stack large language model (LLM) chat interface developed by Sandia National Laboratories to support U.S. Government customers and national security missions. The platform integrates the Model Context Protocol (MCP) for extensible tool execution, implements multi-level compliance controls for data segregation, and supports multiple LLM providers through a unified abstraction layer. This paper presents the architectural design, security features, and unique capabilities of Atlas UI 3, with particular emphasis on the considerations that motivated developing a purpose-built solution rather than adopting existing commercial or open-source alternatives. Key differentiating features include a fully pluggable architecture where organizations bring their own LLM providers, RAG systems, tools, and storage; group-based authorization controlling MCP tool discovery and execution; administrator-configurable tool approval requirements; a compliance-level enforcement system; interactive tool elicitation; and multiple agent reasoning strategies. The platform’s design prioritizes software supply chain security, licensing clarity, configurability for rapid deployment across diverse environments, and adaptability to high-performance computing (HPC) environments.