Material manufacturing: New weld wire reduces failures from hydrogen damage
(Control Automation) ORNL, along with several federal agencies, has developed a new alloy for welding applications in hopes of improving weld strength. Dec. 31
ORNL licenses liquid-to-solid electrolyte technology to startup Safire
(Charged Electric Vehicles Magazine) The collection of five patented technologies is intended to be a drop-in additive for lithium-ion batteries. It’s designed to prevent explosions and fire from impact by altering the electrolyte from liquid to solid. Dec. 28
An experimental platform to study the microscopic behavior of additive metal welds as they’re being created
(3D Adept) Researchers at ORNL have created a one-of-a-kind automated robotic platform that allows them to study the microscopic behavior of additive metal welds in real time as they’re being created. Dec. 27
ORNL finds naturally derived compound materials fit for AM
(3Dprint.com) A team led by ORNL researchers has found that the presence of ash minerals in plants don’t make much difference in the 3D printability of new naturally derived compound materials designed specifically for additive manufacturing. Dec. 24
Advancing the additive manufacturing revolution: ExaAM’s simulation codes bring exascale power to industrial 3D printing
(HPCwire) The ExaAM project, which is a collection of simulation codes optimized for exascale-class supercomputers, aims to advance additive manufacturing as a viable method for industrial manufacturing. Green Car Congress also shared the news. Dec. 22
Store4Build project to advance thermal energy storage tech
(Engineering 360) Research participants NREL, LBNL and ORNL will advance energy storage in materials such as water or salt hydrates instead of as electrical energy. Dec. 22
3D-printed spares, electrification and cool parts: Top 10 stories of 2022
(Additive Manufacturing) The story highlights a video in which Aimee Jackson, a researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, discusses her work in producing rotors for electric motors with laser powder bed fusion. Dec. 22
Congress wraps up science budgets for fiscal year 2023
(AIP) As expected, the appropriation provides nearly all the remaining funding needed for beam upgrades at Oak Ridge National Lab’s Spallation Neutron Source and Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source. Dec. 21
Here are 5 record-breaking science discoveries from 2022
(Science News) A supercomputer named Frontier crunched numbers with mind-blowing speed this year: 1.1 quintillion operations per second. That makes the machine, run by Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the first exascale computer — a computer that can perform at least 1 quintillion operations per second. Dec. 21
UMaine awarded $7.6 million for Hub and Spoke program
(3D Printing Media Network) UMaine and the University of Maine System was awarded $7.6 million from ORNL for Phase 3 of the Hub and Spoke Program. This phase will focus on continuing the development of sustainable, structurally reinforced materials while expanding into functionally modified, bio-based materials using a wider range of material systems and workforce development. Dec. 21
U.S. pipeline regulator launched review of special permit process following audit of Keystone spills
(Financial Post) The third-party review being conducted by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory began last August, according to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Reuters also covered the news. Dec. 21
Vertimass partners with team to convert carbon dioxide into jet fuel through Danish government award
(Renewable Carbon News) This Consolidated Alcohol Deoxygenation and Oligomerization technology originated from Oak Ridge National Laboratory operated by UT-Battelle, with Vertimass obtaining worldwide exclusive rights in 2014 and advancing the technology for commercial applicability. Dec. 21
These 11 companies are Knoxville's top employers as our area grows in popularity
(Knox News) ORNL added more than 200 employees, moving up a spot from the area's sixth-largest employer in 2021 to ranking fifth in 2022. The lab announced in November that it will receive $497 million from the Inflation Reduction Act to fund key science and energy projects that will drive technological innovation. Dec. 20
Manufacturing process produces better, cheaper cathodes for lithium-ion batteries
(Quality Digest) Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new method for producing a key component of lithium-ion batteries. Dec. 20
Seven ORNL scientists named Battelle Distinguished Inventors(Printed Electronics) Seven scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been named Battelle Distinguished Inventors, in recognition of their obtaining 14 or more patents during their careers at the lab. Dec. 20
3 elements of roofing sustainability
(facilitiesnet) Even without the Energy Star designation to help facility managers select roofs, other tools like the Cool Roof Ratings Council’s database of cool roofing products — its Rated Product Directory — can help in product selection. Oak Ridge National Laboratory also maintains a “cool roof calculator” that lets users input variables to determine what roof might be best for their facilities. Dec. 20
Kincannon's secrecy could bring big taxpayer tab and a mayoral challenge
(Knox News opinion) The story mentions that Thomas Zacharia, who is retiring as head of ORNL this month, was featured in a Wall Street Journal article that outlined his impressive career since he moved to the U.S. in 1981. Dec. 19
A powerful new use for blockchain
(Engineering 360) As part of its Darknet project, researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed the Grid Guard framework to detect unusual activity, such as data manipulation, spoofing and illicit changes to device settings, which could trigger cascading power outages as breakers are tripped by protection devices. Dec. 19
Crossing the quantum frontier: ORNL, Quantum Science Center race to crack code to new computing horizons
(HPCwire) Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s next major computing achievement could open a new universe of scientific possibilities accelerated by the primal forces at the heart of matter and energy. Dec. 19
C&EN’s year in chemistry 2022
(C&E News) At ORNL, chemists got a first glimpse at one of the most powerful supercomputers ever built. ORNL’s exascale supercomputer, Frontier, is among the first machines to calculate more than 1 quintillion floating point operations per second, a unit of computational arithmetic. Dec. 15
Commit to being a leader in grid resilience
(T&D World) "For greater preparedness, the White House Office of Science Technology and Policy announced support for the adoption of standardized outage data as championed by The Outage Data Initiative Nationwide," writes ORNL's Supriya Chinthavali. Dec. 15
Toughest material ever is an alloy of chromium, cobalt and nickel
(New Scientist) An alloy made of almost equal amounts of chromium, cobalt and nickel resists fracturing even at incredibly cold temperatures, which could make it useful for building spacecraft. Science Times also shared the news. Dec. 14
Area engineer honored for pioneer nuclear contributions
(Altoona Mirror) The Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers recently announced that Dennis Youchison, a recent ORNL retiree, is the recipient of the 2022 Fusion Technology Award. Dec. 12
Meet the latest, toughest material on Earth
(IFL Science) Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and ORNL discovered that a metallic alloy of chromium, cobalt, and nickel surprisingly gets tougher the colder it gets. Highways Today, Tech Explorist and NDTV also shared the news. Dec. 9
ORNL researches ash content in biocomposites
(3Dprinting.com) Researchers at ORNL wanted to know to what extent the presence of ash spheres affects the viability of bioplastic, biocomposite and also biofuel production. The aim was to determine how much ash is acceptable in biomass when producing such materials. 3D Printing Media Network also covered the story. Dec. 9
EQSIM shakes up earthquake research at exascale
(Scientific Computing World) EQSIM — one of several projects supported by DOE’s Exascale Computing Project — has been breaking new ground in efforts to understand how seismic activity affects the structural integrity of buildings and infrastructure. Dec. 9
Advancing atomic-scale manufacturing
(Tech Explorist) Scientists at ORNL discovered when they automated the beam of an electron microscope to precisely drill holes in the atomically thin lattice of graphene, the drilled holes closed up. Dec. 8
Genomics and AI spot genetic marker for autism
(Psychology Today) A team of ORNL researchers discovered a genetic mutation associated with nonverbal types of autism spectrum disorder using a novel method and artificial intelligence machine learning. Dec. 8
ORNL and VA use security framework on Summit for health research
(HPCwire) A team from ORNL and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs used the CITADEL security framework to securely transfer and analyze veterans’ health records on ORNL’s Summit. Dec. 7
Biomembrane research findings could advance understanding of computing and human memory
(HPCwire) While studying how bio-inspired materials might inform the design of next-generation computers, scientists at ORNL achieved a first-of-its-kind result that could have big implications for both edge computing and human health. Dec. 7
Liquid-to-solid battery electrolyte technology licensed exclusively to Safire
(Quality Digest) ORNL has exclusively licensed battery electrolyte technology to Safire Technology Group. The collection of five patented technologies is designed for a drop-in additive for lithium-ion batteries that prevents explosions and fire from impact. Dec. 7
Technique creates more heat-resistant 3D-printed parts
(Design News) A team of scientists at MIT, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and ORNL developed a heat treatment that transforms the microscopic structure of 3D-printed metals in such a way that the materials become stronger and more resilient even in extreme, heat-intensive environments. Dec. 7
A 3D-printed wooden house to address labor and housing shortages
(Wood Industry) BioHome3D was developed with funding from DOE's hub and spoke program between the University of Maine and ORNL. Dec. 6
What medium and large enterprises can learn from the supercomputing revolution
(IT Pro/AMD sponsored content) ORNL’s Frontier was the first system to arrive that is able to deliver over 1 exaflop of compute performance, or one quintillion floating-point operations per second. This will unleash a new world for research, including the application of AI/ML on a much larger scale. Dec. 6
'Accidental scientist': As ORNL director prepares to retire, he reflects on his nearly 4-decade career
(WBIR) For Thomas Zacharia, an opportunity to come to Oak Ridge as a postdoctoral fellow blossomed into a three-decade career at ORNL. The mechanical engineer and expert in materials science oversaw the development of a series of supercomputers, grew a partnership with UT and expanded the work underway at the national lab. Dec. 5
Cleaner, more efficient method found to make cathode material for lithium-ion batteries
(Utility Dive) Energy-dense cathodes are key to decarbonization and meeting increasing demand for electric cars, researchers from ORNL say. Manufacturing.net, Industrial Equipment News, Design and Development Today, Green Car Congress, Teknovation and AZO Materials also shared the news. Dec. 5
New not-for-profit foundation established to foster scientific endeavors
(Teknovation) Seeded by funding from UT-Battelle, the not-for-profit Oak Ridge Foundation, which will be governed by an independent board of directors, will enable stronger connections for corporate and individual donors who are interested in efforts that advance Oak Ridge missions. Dec. 4
From exasperation to exascale: HPE’s Nic Dubé on Frontier’s untold story
(HPCwire) The Frontier supercomputer – still fresh off its chart-topping 1.1 Linpack exaflops run and maintaining its number-one spot on the Top500 list – was still very much in the spotlight at SC22 in Dallas last month. Dec. 2
Exascale legacy
(Scientific Computing World) Doug Kothe, director for the Exascale Computing Project and associate laboratory director for the Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate, discusses the lasting impact of exascale development. Dec. 2
ORNL tests blockchain to protect grid against cyberattacks
(American Public Power Association) In an effort to protect against cyberattacks and improve resiliency, researchers at ORNL have used blockchain to validate communication among devices on the electric grid. EE Power also shared the news. Dec. 1
ORNL and Veterans Affairs use Summit supercomputer security framework for health research
(Inside HPC) A team from ORNL and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs used the CITADEL security framework to securely transfer and analyze veterans’ health records on ORNL’s Summit, an IBM AC922 supercomputer housed at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility. Dec. 1
Santa Jansone-Popova: Chemistry by design
(STEM Magazine) An organic chemist at ORNL, Santa Jansone-Popova focuses on the fundamental challenges of chemical separations that translate to world-changing solutions for clean water and sustainable energy. December issue
EPB announces quantum network to attract researchers, entrepreneurs to Chattanooga
(Chattanooga Times Free Press) EPB and Qubitekk have worked with ORNL since 2016 to use quantum technology to improve cybersecurity, and their project was recognized a year ago as one of the top research projects and a winner of an R&D 100 award. The news also was covered by Teknovation, Chattanoogan and Chattanooga Business Trend. Nov. 30
Veterans recognized with presentation for Veterans Day
(Grainger Today) Chuck Guyett works at ORNL where he supports research scientists sponsored by DOE and UT-Battelle in the area of information systems infrastructure support. Nov. 30
Radium chelator researchers working to improve targeted cancer therapies
(Chemistry World) A collaborative effort is underway at ORNL to explore the chemistry of radium and use those discoveries to advance cancer treatments. The aim is to couple the cytotoxicity of alpha-particles with the tumor specificity of biological targeting vectors to selectively destroy cancer cells. Nov. 29
DOE tests blockchain technology to ensure grid security, resilience in first-of-its-kind demonstration
(Utility Dive) ORNL has shown how blockchain technology can be used to secure the grid in what it says is a first-of-its-kind demonstration of a new power system communications framework. Teknovation also shared the news. Nov. 28
HPE delivers the world’s fastest, most energy-efficient supercomputers at SC22
(Techwire Asia) According to the November 2022 Top500 ranking, HPE’s Frontier continues to be the fastest exascale supercomputer in the world. HPE also built seven of the world’s top ten most energy-efficient supercomputers. Nov. 28
IC COHORT 6 | Captis Aire focused on commercializing Fluidized Bed Concentrator capture technology
(Teknovation) There’s a lot of meaning in the name that Kim Tutin gave to Captis Aire, the start-up that she is leading as part of Cohort 6 of the Innovation Crossroads program operated by ORNL. Nov. 28
Weekly News and Notes includes a recognition and several celebrations
(Teknovation) The University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute presented its Catalyst Award to Thomas Zacharia, the retiring director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Nov. 27
Protecting your data: Tips from an ORNL expert
(Oak Ridger) Matt Lindsey’s mission is to ward off threats on the internet. As chief threat intelligence analyst, he leads a team of seven analysts who daily protect the computers at ORNL from millions of cyberthreats. Nov. 27
Blockchain technology puts paid to US energy data attacks
(Technology) Researchers at ORNL are using blockchain technology to track and validate communication among devices on an electric grid, the first time the tech has been used in this way. Green Car Congress also carried the story. Nov. 25
The hydrogen stream
(PV Magazine) DOE, ORNL and Argonne National Laboratory have kicked off a four-year project to power the next generation of trains with up to 100% hydrogen and other low-carbon fuels. Nov. 25
DOE awards funding to research uranium recovery options for advanced nuclear reactors
(Power Engineering) DOE has awarded $2.8 million to a coalition of partners who will research fuel management options for next-gen nuclear reactors. EPRI will lead the team, which also includes ORNL, Southern Company and Deep Isolation. Yahoo! Finance posted a press release about the project from the Southern Company. Nov. 23
ORNL recyclable composites help drive net-zero goal
(JEC Group) ORNL scientists designed a recyclable polymer for carbon-fiber composites to enable circular manufacturing of parts that boost energy efficiency in automotive, wind power and aerospace applications. Nov. 23
SME awards prominent manufacturing leaders and researchers at its gala
(Manufacturing Tomorrow) SME, the professional association committed to advancing manufacturing and developing a skilled workforce, presented two Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineers awards, including one to ORNL's Vipin Kumar. Nov. 23
Eight ORNL scientists, seven UTK faculty members among world’s most highly cited researchers
(Teknovation) Eight ORNL scientists and seven faculty members at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, including three who have appointments at both institutions, are among the world’s most highly cited researchers. Nov. 22
ORNL licenses liquid-to-solid battery electrolyte technology exclusively to Safire
(Battery Industry) ORNL has exclusively licensed battery electrolyte technology to Safire Technology Group. The collection of five patented technologies is designed for a drop-in additive for lithium-ion batteries that prevents explosions and fire from impact. The news was also shared by Quality Digest and Technical.ly. Nov. 22
SC22’s ‘HPC Accelerates’ plenary stresses need for collaboration
(HPCwire) “When you strive to be at the bleeding edge of high-performance computing, the ultimate goal is to accelerate computation for some of the most pressing and challenging problems,” said Gina Tourassi, director of ORNL's National Center for Computational Sciences. Nov. 21
Are we entering the golden age of climate modeling?
(Eos) Atmosphere-focused climate models are now being run at 3-kilometer resolution on ORNL's Frontier, the world’s first exascale computer. DOE has been developing a program similar to DestinE for the past 10 years, preparing to have its Climate and Earth System model ready for this moment. Nov. 21
UMaine unveils first 3D-printed home in a bid to mass-produce affordable housing
(Maine Public) The home has been printed using a material known as wood flour. It's essentially the waste left over from a sawmill — and mixed together with a binder made from corn. The center has spent years experimenting on the material with help and funding from DOE and ORNL. The news was shared by New Atlas, Composites World, 3DPrinting.com, Government Technology, WABI, News Pub and the Bangor Daily News. Nov. 21
UMaine to unveil world's first bio-based 3D-printed house
(Yahoo News) The world's first bio-based 3D-printed house is set to be unveiled Monday at the University of Maine's Advanced Structures and Composites Center. The center built the BioHome3D prototype in collaboration with MaineHousing, the U.S. Department of Energy and researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Nov. 21
Twisted neutrons are created using a holographic approach
(Physics World) The team tested their system on a small-angle neutron scattering beamline at the High Flux Isotope Reactor at ORNL. The researchers say that the SANS setup offered several advantages, including the ability to map the neutron beam in the far field – which meant that a holographic technique could be used to create the twisted neutrons. New Electronics also covered the research. Nov. 21
New ORNL center will make important isotopes
(Oak Ridge Today) A center being built at ORNL is expected to revitalize that isotope production and reduce dependence on foreign suppliers. ORNL had a groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility, the U.S. Stable Isotope Production and Research Center, in October. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm attended. Physics World also reported the news. Nov. 21
VA-based startup exclusively licenses ORNL technologies, will locate facilities in East Tennessee
(Teknovation) ORNL announced last Friday that its has exclusively licensed five patented technologies to Safire Technology Group. The McLean, VA-based startup, formerly known as BTRY, plans to locate facilities in East Tennessee as part of its plan to commercialize the liquid-to-solid battery technology. Auto Connected Car News, Electrive, Energy Storage Journal, Battery Power Online and Green Car Congress also shared the story. Nov. 20
Wabtec launches hydrogen traction research partnership
(Railway Gazette) Citing greater awareness of climate change and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Wabtec has entered into collaborative research and development agreements with the Oak Ridge and Argonne national laboratories to identify potential options for applying hydrogen in the rail industry. Nov. 20
The government is watching — your buildings
(Connected World) According to the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s ORNL (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), there were 125,714,640 residential and commercial buildings in the U.S. consuming approximately $395 billion per year in energy bills, about 73% of the nation’s electricity (80% during peak generation) and causing 39% of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. Nov. 20
Pausing of annual “CodeStock” conference tops this week’s “News & Notes” feature
(Teknovation) ORNL is joining with two other DOE labs – NREL and Berkeley – to co-lead Stor4Build. It is a new consortium focused on energy storage for buildings that will accelerate the growth, optimization and deployment of storage technologies. Nov. 20
Quantum – Are we there (or close) yet? No, says the panel
(HPC Wire) “From my perspective, the current systems today are very much focused on discovery," said ORNL's Travis Humble. “... we’ll develop over time how to turn them into more sophisticated cultures, including the culture of high-performance computing. But ultimately, I believe that this is a new technology that will help us surpass what the field is capable of doing today." Nov. 19
Microbes enhance resilience of carbon-rich peatlands to warming
(ASBMB Today) Scientists at ORNL discovered that certain bacteria increase the climate resilience of Sphagnum moss, the tiny plant responsible for storing a third of the world’s soil carbon in peat bogs. Nov. 19
America’s reservoirs are drying up
(The Economist) A study from ORNL warns that government-owned reservoirs in Idaho, Oregon and Washington could see hydropower generation decrease during summer months. In future, the researchers suggest, higher temperatures in the region will cause “severe” water loss from evaporation. Nov. 18
Is hacking photosynthesis the key to increasing crop yields?
(Smithsonian) “It is getting more and more apparent that climate change is going to be a big challenge,” says Xiaohan Yang, a plant molecular biologist at ORNL. “These plants are a natural solution to mitigate climate change.” Nov. 18
ORNL develops recyclable polymer for low-carbon composites manufacture
(Composites World) ORNL scientists have designed a recyclable polymer for carbon fiber composites to enable circular manufacturing of parts that boost energy efficiency in automotive, wind power and aerospace applications. Nov. 18
Coal-to-nuclear plans may speed up race to nth-of-a-kind
(Reuters Events) After evaluating 157 retired coal sites and 237 operating sites in the United States, the study, prepared for the DOE by INL, Argonne and ORNL, found that 80% have the basic characteristics needed to be considered amenable to host an advanced nuclear reactor. Nov. 18
Building science competition challenges US students
(Engineering 360) Following the final competition, eligible students on winning teams will be offered 10-week,paid internships at NREL, ORNL or PNNL to gain hands-on experience, receive mentorship and meet industry experts. Nov. 18
Researchers show heat treatment allows AM part to withstand extreme conditions
(Metal AM) Researchers from MIT, University of Illinois and ORNL have developed a heat treatment that transforms the microscopic structure of additively manufactured metals to make the materials stronger and more resilient in extreme thermal environments. Nov. 18
Air leakage paths in a typical wood-framed wall assembly
(Walls and Ceilings) The Air Barrier Association of America worked with ORNL to conduct assembly testing on a wood-framed wall to determine the gaps, cracks and holes that would leak the most. Nov. 18
TAEBC’s Opportunities in Energy forum covers everything from energy justice to EVs
(Teknovation) Corporate sustainability and environmental stewardship are "important to SkyNano because this is what we were founded on . . . it’s our ethos,” said Anna Douglas, co-founder and CEO of the start-up that was a participant in Cohort 1 of the Innovation Crossroads program at ORNL. Nov. 17
How NRIC is helping advance technology for the nuclear power industry
(POWER) The National Reactor Innovation Center worked with ORNL, Argonne and the University of Michigan to develop the Siting Tool for Advanced Nuclear Development. It provides a systematic way, based on user siting preferences and priorities, to discover areas that may be a good fit, explore areas to identify specific sites and compare sites to identify an optimal option. Nov. 17
Oak Ridge National Lab-led team finds genetic markers for autism
(WATE) A team of researchers led by ORNL scientists has found a genetic marker that can help change how autism is understood. ORNL said the team, “discovered genetic mutations that underlie autism using a new approach that could lead to better diagnostics and drug therapies.” WBIR also reported on the news. Nov. 16
New measurements quantifying qudits provide glimpse of quantum future
(CleanTechnica) Researchers from ORNL, Purdue University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne fully characterized an entangled pair of eight-level qudits. HPCwire also ran a story about the research. Nov. 16
Jack Dongarra: A not so simple matter of software
(HPCwire) For a few moments, the atmosphere was more rock concert than supercomputing conference with many members of a packed audience standing, cheering, and waving signs as Jack Dongarra took the stage to deliver the annual ACM Turing Award lecture at SC22. Nov. 16
ORNL licenses Li-ion battery additive to venture-backed startup
(ExecutiveGov) ORNL has granted Safire Technology Group exclusive rights to commercialize a lithium-ion battery safety additive developed at the DOE-funded research institution. Nov. 16
ORNL scientists on Highly Cited Researchers list
(Compass email) Eight ORNL researchers are among the world’s most cited researchers, according to an annual list compiled by the scientific publication analytics firm Clarivate. Printed Electronics Now also shared the news. Nov. 16
Top500: Frontier Still #1; Where’s China?
(IEEE Spectrum) The latest list of the world's most powerful supercomputers reveals that Frontier at ORNL, has stayed on top. ZDNet, HPCwire and Data Center Dynamics also reported the news. Nov. 15
Vanderbilt Medical Center experts: Climate change affects health
(Tennessee Lookout) “If one good thing came out of our experience with the pandemic, is the fact that we can have a whole society respond to a big problem,” said Christa Brelsford, research scientist in the geospatial science and human security division at ORNL. Nov. 15
Nanoreactor grows hydrogen-storage crystals
(FuelCellsWorks) Neutron scattering techniques were used as part of a study of a novel nanoreactor material that grows crystalline hydrogen clathrates, or HCs, capable of storing hydrogen. Nov. 15
Powerful linear accelerator begins smashing atoms; scientists explain how it could reveal rare forms of matter
(The Conversation/Yahoo! News) A multi-institution team including ORNL researchers began running the first experiment at FRIB on May 9. The group directed a beam of calcium-48 – a calcium nucleus with 48 neutrons instead of the usual 20 – into a beryllium target at 1 kW of power. Nov. 14
IC COHORT 6 | Agriwater working to address serious environmental challenge faced by livestock farmers
(Teknovation) Bianca Bailey's start-up is focused on addressing a serious environmental challenge for livestock farmers, specifically those defined as concentrated animal feeding operators. Nov. 14
Conduits as sources of hydropower
(Engineering 360) The extensive network of pipelines, canals and other types of water conduits crisscrossing the U.S. offers opportunity to expand hydropower generating capacity. According to ORNL, such infrastructure has the potential to add 1.41 GW of electricity to the power grid, sufficient to power more than a million homes. Nov. 14
Wabtec, national labs collaborate on carbon reduction
(Railway Age) Last week, researchers kicked off the project, which is part of Wabtec’s dual path technology approach on hydrogen power for rail, and celebrated the installation of the company’s single-cylinder dual-fuel locomotive engine at ORNL. RailTech also covered the announcement. Nov. 14
HPCwire reveals winners of the 2022 Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards during SC22
(HPCwire) The collaboration of HPE, AMD, DOE and ORNL that resulted in the first verified exascale supercomputer took top honors during the Readers' and Editors' Choice Awards. According to the Top500 list, Frontier is more powerful than the next top seven of the world’s largest supercomputers combined. Nov. 14
ORNL to receive $497 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding
(Oak Ridge Today) ORNL will receive $497 million from the Inflation Reduction Act for projects that include nuclear fusion and neutron research, supercomputing, materials science, and radioisotope production. An article in Nuclear Newswire discusses funding for fusion and fission projects more specifically. Nov. 12
Evaluating buildings in real time
(CleanTechnica) Researchers at ORNL have developed a tool that provides accurate measurements and positioning directions while installing energy-efficient panels over existing building exteriors. This method will decrease installation time and cost by more than 25%. Nov. 11
ORNL, Argonne collaborate with Wabtec on hydrogen-powered trains to decarbonize rail industry
(Hydrogen Central) As the United States shifts away from fossil-fuel-burning cars and trucks, scientists at DOE’s Oak Ridge and Argonne national laboratories are exploring options for another form of transportation: trains. Oak Ridge Today, the News Sentinel, the Oak Ridger, Compass and H2 View also covered the story. Nov. 10
Vanderbilt hosts research immersion with ORNL Deputy Director Susan Hubbard
(Vanderbilt News) Vanderbilt University hosted Susan Hubbard, deputy director for science and technology at ORNL, and Jens Dilling, ORNL director of strategic institutional planning, for a two-day immersion into Vanderbilt’s interdisciplinary research initiatives related to pressing issues in energy, climate and global security. Nov. 10
Chuck George: Innovator, mentor leads by example
(Business Journal) Not long after Chuck George acquired Hapco, ORNL began to buy its plastics extruders. These extruders, the company learned, were being used to develop an additive manufacturing system capable of 3D printing a car. Nov. 10
Looking for a job in science? National labs are set for a hiring spree
(ZDNet) Big winners include ORNL, which will get $490.9 million to support continued advances in exascale computing, continue progress on next-generation neutron science capabilities, advance fusion energy, and expand capacity to produce isotopes for economic, energy, and national security. Science also reported on the new funding announcement. Nov. 9
DOE accelerates national affordable housing upgrades
(CleanTechnica) ORNL will receive $5 million to demonstrate 3D-printed modular overclad panels with heat pump systems in eight to 12 single-family attached public housing homes and one commercial building in Knoxville. Nov. 9
Deep learning underlies geographic dataset used in hurricane response
(CleanTechnica) Over the past seven years, researchers in ORNL’s Geospatial Science and Human Security Division have mapped and characterized all structures within the United States to aid FEMA in its response to disasters. Teknovation also reported the story. Nov. 9
ORNL develops new train engine that cuts down on carbon emissions
(WVLT) ORNL unveiled a hydrogen-powered train engine. Argonne National Laboratory and Wabtec are partners in the project. ORNL officials said its cylinder is about six times bigger than a cylinder that you find in a truck, and a train is going to have a dozen of them. CleanTechnica, Green Car Congress, Teknovation and Manufacturing.net also covered the news. Nov. 9
3D printing news briefs: Deep-learning for X-ray CT inspection
(3dprint.com) A team at ORNL developed a deep-learning framework that not only speeds up the process, but also increases the accuracy, of inspecting metal 3D-printed parts with X-ray CT scanning. Nov. 9
Q&A: Young alumni awarded for research in chemistry
(The Ithacan) ORNL's Samantha Schrell was awarded the Ithaca College's Outstanding Young Alumni Award on Aug. 30. Since graduating from the college, Schrell has done extensive work in areas like coordination chemistry and solid-state synthesis. Nov. 8
Q&A with SC22 Job Fair Chair Kate Carter
(HPCwire) Nearly 40 companies have signed up to participate so far. Job Fair Chair Kate Carter explains what it’s all about. As lead talent acquisition partner for ORNL, Carter is well aligned for the role. Nov. 8
Conduit hydropower could add 1.41GW of new hydropower in US, says report
(Water Power and Dam Construction) In a first-of-its-kind analysis, ORNL researchers estimate that conduit hydropower, which uses water from structures such as water supply pipelines and irrigation canals, has the potential to add 1.41GW of electricity to the U.S. power grid. Smart Water Magazine also shared the news. Nov. 8
Pondering remedial actions for mercury in East Fork Poplar Creek
(Oak Ridger) According to ORNL's Scott Brooks, there is no silver bullet for dramatically lowering the levels of a toxic compound of mercury in the water and fish in the downstream reaches of Oak Ridge’s East Fork Poplar Creek. Nov. 8
A faster charge for electric vehicles
(Physics) There has long been a concern that operating Li-ion batteries at elevated temperatures may lead to side reactions that degrade performance, says Zhijia Du, a staff scientist at ORNL, who works on fast battery charging. Nov. 8
Three individuals, two teams win Director’s Awards during UT-Battelle event on Saturday night
(Teknovation) ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia presented five Director’s Awards during Saturday night’s annual Awards Night event hosted by UT-Battelle, which manages the lab for the U.S. Department of Energy. Nov. 7
IC COHORT 6 | Ateios Systems enabling 'a Moore’s Law of batteries'
(Teknovation) Rajan Kumar has a revenue-generating business with venture backing from Good Growth Capital and big plans to revolutionize the production of small batteries during his two-year fellowship as part of Cohort 6 of Innovation Crossroads, operated by ORNL. Nov. 7
VERIFI-ing and tracking carbon’s big footprint
(Quality Digest) Researchers at ORNL have developed an online tool that offers industrial plants an easier way to track and download information about their energy footprint and carbon emissions. Nov. 7
What it took to build the world’s first exascale supercomputer
(Teknovation) Matt Sieger, Frontier deputy project director within the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, explained the construction process as the keynote speaker at the Knoxville Technology Council’s PULSE Technology Summit. Nov. 6
Tips on staying safe on the internet is Altrusa topic Wednesday
(Oak Ridger) Matt Lindsey, ORNL's Defensive Cyber Operations lead and chief threat intelligence analyst, will speak on "Don't Let Phishing Catch You!" at Wednesday's meeting of Altrusa International of Oak Ridge. Nov. 6
ORNL to get $497 million in new research funding
(Associated Press) ORNL will receive a massive infusion of federal dollars for scientific research and other programs under legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden in August. The news was also reported by the News Sentinel, Teknovation and the Oak Ridger. Nov. 5
Enough room for all in the geothermal sandbox
(PCHP Pros) In 2019, a new partnership between high- and low-temperature geothermal began to take shape — at first behind the scenes, then on stage as panels were organized at conferences. Thanks to the enduring work of Xiaobing Liu at ORNL and countless others, the sandbox has been opened to all in the industry. Nov. 4
Chung-hsing Hsu and Wu Feng to receive annual Test of Time Award at SC22 for their SC05 paper
(HPCwire) The SC22 supercomputing conference has announced the winners for the annual Test of Time Award. Chung-hsing Hsu of ORNL and Wu-chun Feng of Virginia Tech will receive the award for their SC05 publication “A Power-Aware Run-Time System for High-Performance Computing." Nov. 4
Discovery of a cancer trigger that could spur targeted therapeutics
(Wiley Analytical Science) ORNL's Debjani Pal describes her discoveries with plasminogen-apple-nematode domain and leading cancer research. Nov. 2
Pitt professor wins astronomy award for simulating galaxies with ‘greater clarity than ever before’
(Pitt News) Evan Schneider has invented code to look at and understand how galaxies behave in incredibly precise detail by harnessing the potential of cutting-edge supercomputers at ORNL. Nov. 2
Using ultrasound to check battery health
(Quality Digest) Scientists at ORNL are using ultrasounds—usually associated with medical imaging—to check the health of an operating battery. The technique uses sensors as small as a thumbnail, which could be attached to a lithium-ion battery inside a car. Nov. 2
Racing company licenses innovative ORNL fast-charging battery technologies
(Today's eMobility) Marc-Antoni Racing has licensed a collection of patented energy storage technologies developed at ORNL. The technologies focus on components enabling fast-charging, energy-dense batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles and grid storage. Nov. 2
Erica Grant raises all-important seed round for company now known as Quantal Security Inc.
(Teknovation) Erica Grant, a member of Cohort 4 of Innovation Crossroads, has continued to participate in panel and pitch events throughout Knoxville despite being busy planning for a pilot program, raising a seed round and hiring at her recently renamed company Quantal Security Inc. Nov. 2
Deep learning underlies geographic dataset used in hurricane response
(Homeland Security News Wire)Even before hurricanes Fiona and Ian made landfall, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was working with researcher Lexie Yang and her team at ORNL to forecast potential damage and accelerate on-the-ground response using USA Structures. Nov. 2
Conduit hydropower capacity could add 1.4GW to US grid
(Power Engineering International) Researchers from ORNL have determined that using conduit hydropower could increase renewable energy generation within existing infrastructure. EE Power also covered the story. Nov. 1
X-ray CT inspection of 3D-printed parts improved by deep learning
(Highways Today) A new deep-learning framework developed at ORNL is speeding up the process of inspecting additively manufactured metal parts using X-ray computed tomography, or CT, while increasing the accuracy of the results. Oct. 29
What we can learn from the energy efficiency of supercomputers
(Business Today) Whereas the previous top Green500 machine, MN-3 in Japan, delivered 39.38 gigaflops per watt, ORNL's Frontier achieves 62.68 gigaflops per watt. This means that AMD processors and accelerators now power some of the most efficient supercomputers in the world. Oct. 29
908 Devices stock: pure play in mini mass spectrometers
(Nanalyze) 908 Devices refers to its proprietary technology, first developed at ORNL, as high-pressure mass spec (HPMS), which enables it to miniaturize key components using semiconductor microfabrication techniques. Oct. 28
3D scanning vibrometer is a master of measurements
(Tech Xplore) In a storage area on the west end of the ORNL campus is a machine that can measure anything from a jumbo turbine assembly to a tiny centrifuge component—with near-perfect precision. Oct. 28
Latest cohort of 100Knoxville program announced
(Teknovation) Each company will receive $5,000 from ORNL toward growing their business. “ORNL’s success is connected to the growth of the entrepreneurial ecosystem in East Tennessee,” said Susan Hubbard, Deputy for Science and Technology at ORNL. Oct. 27
Since when did ORNL get into racing?
(CleanTechnica) ORNL announced that Marc-Antoni Racing licensed a set of patented energy storage technologies. The primary focus is on components that would enable batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles to charge quickly while still being dense in terms of stored energy. Teknovation also reported on the licensing. Oct. 26
DOE announces two 2022 Office of Science Distinguished Scientist Fellows
(HPCwire) Sheng Dai is being honored “for pioneering advances in development of functional materials for separation science, energy storage, catalysis and other energy-related applications and for excellence in leading team science and mentoring the next generation of researchers.” Oct. 26
Bringing custom microbes to the business of recycling plastic
(ChemEurope) The project, which involves multiple institutions, draws on synthetic biology expertise at ORNL to engineer a microbe that converts deconstructed plastic waste into building blocks for next-generation materials. Oct. 26
100Knoxville cohort
(Compass email newsletter) Each business will be paired with a mentor for an intensive five-week focus on their strategy, operations and sales. Each entrepreneur will also receive a $5,000 grant courtesy of ORNL, which they can use to build their business. Oct. 26
Applications for Cohort 7 of Innovation Crossroads are being accepted
(Teknovation) The innovative program serves as a platform for supporting and mentoring entrepreneurial researchers whose early stage innovations are too challenging or technically uncertain to pursue in a venture capital-financed startup. Oct. 25
ORNL’s Vasudevan elected fellow of the American Physical Society
(HPCwire) Rama Vasudevan has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society. The honor recognizes members who have made significant contributions to physics and its application to science and technology. Oct. 25
TVA studies new sites for more nuclear reactors
(Energy Central/Chattanooga Times Free Press) The Tennessee Valley Authority was the first utility in the country to obtain an early site permit to build a small modular reactor near ORNL. TVA will work with ORNL subject matter experts. Oct. 24
Tiny ultrasound sensors could monitor EV batteries
(IEEE Spectrum) Ultrasound sensors as small as a thumbnail can scan lithium-ion batteries to check their charge, health and safety, a new study from ORNL's Hongbin Sun finds. Oct. 24
Energy secretary shines a light on two local innovations
(News Sentinel) U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm visited ORNL on Monday to help ceremonially break ground on the new U.S. Stable Isotope Production and Research Center, which will enrich isotopes for industrial, medical and research needs. WATE, WVLT, Compass, WBIR, Nuclear Newswire and Teknovation also covered the day's events. Granholm also highlighted a project with Knoxville's Community Development Corporation, which was covered in a second story by WBIR. Oct. 24
Deep learning makes 3D-printed parts CT inspection faster and more accurate
(metrology.news) A new deep-learning framework developed at ORNL is speeding up the process of inspecting additively manufactured metal parts using X-ray computed tomography while increasing the accuracy of the results. Oct. 24
Tennessee This Week: Oak Ridge National Lab director to retire at the end of 2022
(WATE) Dr. Thomas Zacharia started at ORNL in 1987 as a postdoctoral researcher. After serving in multiple positions, he became laboratory director in 2017, and has overseen the growth of the lab’s research portfolio to $2.5 billion and its staff to 6,000 employees. Oct. 23
Jennifer Granholm visits East Knoxville's clean energy innovators as part of Biden's plan
(News Sentinel) ORNL is leading many projects that could change how we use and save energy nationwide. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will visit East Tennessee today to check in on the region's energy innovations. The Oak Ridger and WATE also ran the story. Oct. 21
Let’s talk exascale: Providing exascale-class multiphysics simulation to multiple science domains
(HPCwire) ORNL's J. Austin Harris is a high-performance computing performance engineer and astrophysicist with experience as a software developer and scientific user for many of the codes in the ExaStar project. Oct. 21
The Oak Ridge Computer Science Girls run the world
(Teknovation) On any given Saturday morning, middle school girls across the country are waking up early to attend 10 a.m. online computer science classes based in Oak Ridge. “That is seven in the morning in California. So we have girls getting up at seven in the morning on a Saturday to join our classes on a regular basis,” said ORNL's Thomas Proffen. Oct. 21
Racing company licenses innovative ORNL fast-charging battery technologies
(Industrial Equipment News) Marc-Antoni Racing has licensed a collection of patented energy storage technologies developed at ORNL. The technologies focus on components that enable fast-charging, energy-dense batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles and grid storage. Lab Roots also shared the news. Oct. 21
Strength and innovation in composites
(Innovation in Textiles) The 2022 Combined Strength Award winner is ORNL for a new large-scale manufacturing process called AM-CM — integrated large-scale additive manufacturing and compression molding. Oct. 21
Power grid: Hopeful about federal participation
(El Nuevo Dia) “We don’t know what will come out of it. What Casa Pueblo has been doing, and promoting, which is the same as what other communities do, does not have visibility with the government here. Now, the federal government knows about it,” he said, referring to their collaborative work with ORNL. Oct. 21
The most famous inventions the past 69 years have given us
(Popular Mechanics) The Summit supercomputer, which went online at the ORNL in 2018, is capable of 143.5 petaflops. Oct. 20
New CERN facility allows study of radiation damage to materials
(Physics) “Assessing the durability of materials in these radiation environments is very, very important,” says Fulvia Pilat, director of ORNL's Spallation Neutron Source. Pilat thinks that these experiments could inform material use beyond accelerator facilities, for example, in the extreme environments of outer space or in nuclear fusion facilities. Oct. 20
Q&A with the man behind the world’s fastest supercomputer
(WATE) Over the past three decades, the director of ORNL has overseen a number of incredible scientific projects at the lab, but now he is retiring. In this interview, Thomas Zacharia talks about his time and accomplishments at the lab. Oct. 19
ORNL accelerates part inspection with deep learning and X-ray CT scanning
(3Dprinting.com) ORNL has been developing a framework for the inspection of 3D-printed metal parts utilizing artificial intelligence combined with X-ray computed tomography. HPCwire also shared the news. Oct. 19
Commentary: Exascale Day 2022 is here
(HPCwire) Doug Kothe, director of the Exascale Computing Project and associate laboratory director for the Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate, writes, "Though Exascale Day has been officially recognized for three years now, this year is particularly special as the Frontier system has broken the exascale barrier." An article for Inside HPC also highlighted the importance of the day. Oct. 18
Hurricanes Fiona and Ian gave solar power its time to shine
(Politico) Ben Ollis, a power and energy researcher at ORNL, said lessons that Puerto Rico learned from 2017’s catastrophic Hurricane Maria led to improved installation techniques to protect solar systems against high winds. The story also ran on MSN. For a story for WBIR, ORNL's Max Ferrari discussed microgrid work the team is involved with in Puerto Rico. MSN ran that story as well. Oct. 17
A DOE software suite is helping SmithGroup optimize its designs’ energy efficiency
(Building Design and Construction) SmithGroup has partnered with ORNL, whose Automated Building Energy Modeling software suite, better known as AutoBEM, has simulated the energy use of 123 million structures, or 98 percent of U.S. Buildings. Oct. 14
Deep learning makes 3D-printed part inspection faster
(Manufacturing Business Technology) A new deep-learning framework developed at ORNL is speeding up the process of inspecting additively manufactured metal parts using X-ray computed tomography, or CT, while increasing the accuracy of the results. Oct. 14
New measurements quantifying ‘qudits’ provide glimpse of quantum future
(HPCwire) ORNL, Purdue University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, or EPFL, fully characterized an entangled pair of eight-level qudits, which formed a 64-dimensional quantum space — quadrupling the previous record for discrete frequency modes. New Atlas, Nanowerk and Business News also reported the story. Oct. 14
Bringing custom microbes to the business of recycling plastic
(Nanowerk) Scientists working on a solution for plastic waste have developed a two-step chemical and biological process to break down and upcycle mixed plastics into valuable bioproducts. The project, which involves multiple institutions, draws on synthetic biology expertise at ORNL. Oct. 14
GAIN funds companies’ work with ORNL on reactor siting and reprocessing
(Nuclear Newswire) The vouchers were awarded to Curio Solutions, which is developing a spent fuel recycling process, and to two companies that are separately investigating advanced reactor siting—Elementl Power and the Tennessee Valley Authority. The funds for each award will go directly to ORNL. Oct. 13
40 Under 40 class of 2022: Knox News unveils top young professionals list
(News Sentinel) 40 Under 40 recognizes outstanding young professionals living and working in the Knoxville area and across East Tennessee. This year's honorees include ORNL's Dianne Ezell and Kashif Nawaz. Oct. 13
Data integration helping firms track carbon emissions
(Tech_HQ) Being able to track the energy profile of not just data centers, but all types of buildings has – thanks to big data – become significantly more straightforward. Dubbed AutoBEM and developed by ORNL, the automatic building energy modeling tool boasts impressive features. Oct. 13
Oak Ridge scientists develop method for reducing molten salt’s corrosive effect
(Materials Performance) Scientists at ORNL recently demonstrated a low-temperature, safe route for purifying molten chloride salts that minimizes their ability to corrode metals. Oct. 13
US GAIN vouchers awarded for advanced reactors and used fuel recycling
(Nuclear Engineering International) Three companies will gain access to the research capabilities and expertise of ORNL at no cost to the recipients to help advance their projects. Oct. 13
Water pipes hold flood of untapped electricity potential
(The Register/MSN) ORNL reached this conclusion after what they described as a first-of-its-kind study examining the potential power generation of small and micro-scale hydroelectric generators bolted on to existing water infrastructure. Homeland Security News also shared the story. Oct. 13
Next ORION meeting Oct. 17
(Oak Ridger) Frank Gonzalez, a postdoctoral research associate in the Neutron Symmetries group at ORNL, will present “Mirror Mirror: Neutron Oscillations." Oct. 13
Bringing more reliable electricity to Puerto Rican microgrids
(Tech Briefs) Ben Ollis and a team of engineers from ORNL are creating a novel orchestrator tool to manage a cluster of microgrids so they can directly support and communicate with each other, making them more resilient during long power outages. Oct. 12
Shrinking energy footprints at ORNL
(Compass) Researchers at ORNL have developed an online tool that offers industrial plants an easier way to track and download information about their energy footprint and carbon emissions. Teknovation also reported the story. Oct. 12
UT’s Spark Incubator Program announces new cohort
(Teknovation) Five of the eight are either current participants or alumni of the Innovation Crossroads program operated by ORNL and a sixth just completed the inaugural Spark Cleantech Accelerator. Oct. 12
TennSMART names its first-ever director of entrepreneurship and commercialization
(Teknovation) “We are thrilled to have Bryan [Barringer] manage this new portfolio for TennSMART,” said Rich Davies, Board President of TennSMART and director of the sustainable transportation program at ORNL. Oct. 12
Novel algorithm delivers flexibility, efficiency for sparse linear system solvers on HPC infrastructures
(HPCwire) Researchers funded by the Exascale Computing Project (ECP) have extended the sparse direct solver STRUMPACK to GPU frameworks, providing more flexibility and efficiency for execution of large-scale sparse linear solvers on high-performance computing infrastructures. Oct. 12
IC Cohort 6 participant selected as a Breakthrough Energy Fellow
(Teknovation) Anca Timofte of Holocene, one of the participants in Cohort 6 of the Innovation Crossroads program at ORNL, has been selected for the prestigious Breakthrough Energy Fellows global initiative. Oct. 10
ORNL team finds more carbon in water than previously thought
(WVLT) New research by an East Tennessee duo raises some alarm bells on our climate. “Some of that carbon is part of a natural process. But humans are changing the amount of carbon,” Rachel Pilla said. She is a postdoctoral researcher at ORNL. Oct. 10
When fuel prices soar, here are three smart ways for commercial fleets to control costs
(Forbes) An ORNL study found aggressive speeding and hard braking can lead to a 40% drop in gas mileage and cost operators an additional $1 per gallon at the pump. Moreover, aggressive driving can lead to premature wear on vehicles and higher insurance premiums. The Crescent-News ran a similar story on tips to be a more efficient driver. Oct. 10
Making a pink plant glow bright green with genetic modification
(Cosmos) For several decades, scientists have been adding the GFP jellyfish gene to genetically modified animals, plants, and other organisms, to check where they’re expressing genes. One ORNL study lets us see the protein glowing with a black light and the naked eye. Oct. 10
Digging into Minnesota's peat, an underappreciated climate superhero
(MPR News) One of the largest ecosystem-level experiments on the planet is taking place in the middle of the woods in northern Minnesota. The experiment is called SPRUCE, short for Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environment. Oct. 10
The mobility rEVolution: Novel anode material paves way for 15-minute EV charging
(PV Magazine) ORNL and UT Knoxville collaborated on the development of a novel fast-charging battery anode material via a scalable synthesis method. A novel compound of molybdenum-tungsten-niobate with fast rechargeability and high efficiency could potentially replace graphite in commercial batteries. Oct. 10
Earth System Grid Federation launches effort to upgrade climate projection data system
(CleanTechnica) The federation, led by ORNL in collaboration with Argonne and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories, is integral to some of the most important, impactful and widely respected projections of the Earth’s future climate. Oct. 9
ORNL report helps hydropower operators prepare for climate change
(American Public Power Association) A new report from ORNL aims to provide hydropower operators data that will better enable them to plan for changing climate conditions. Oct. 8
Nobel-winning quantum weirdness undergirds an emerging high-tech industry
(The Conversation) Article written by ORNL's Nicholas Peters, who receives funding from DOE's Office of Science Advanced Scientific Computing Research program and DOE's Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response. Oct. 7
Scientists working on tech to manage two-way power flows in commercial buildings
(Highways Today) Researchers at ORNL recently demonstrated a new technology to better control how power flows to and from commercial buildings equipped with solar, wind or other renewable energy generation. Oct. 7
Renewable energy becoming the norm for emergency power
(Alt Energy Mag) Scientists at ORNL are working with renewable-energy-powered microgrids. These will help bring more resilience to the electricity infrastructure in the communities that need them. Oct. 7
The smartest computers can also be among the most efficient
(FedTech) Frontier can draw up to 21 megawatts of energy when performing the High-Performance Linpack benchmark run, so finding ways to cut down on energy use is critical, says Nicholas Malaya, a principal member of AMD’s technical staff. Frontier uses central processing units and graphical processing units made by AMD. Oct. 7
ORNL to lead research center on polymer electrolytes
(Charged Electric Vehicle Magazine) ORNL has been chosen to lead an Energy Frontier Research Center on polymer electrolytes for energy storage applications, including fuel cells and solid-state EV batteries. Oct. 7
Mercury use in Oak Ridge topic of FORNL talk Oct. 11
(Oak Ridger) “Mercury Use in Oak Ridge: Environmental Legacy and Solutions” is the topic of a lecture to be presented by Scott Brooks, a distinguished R&D scientist in ORNL's Environmental Sciences Division. Oct. 7
ORNL researchers using ultrasounds to test battery health
(Teknovation) You’ve heard of an ultrasound. You’ve probably had one if you had a baby. Now instead of using ultrasounds to see inside the human body, researchers at ORNL are using them to check the health of batteries. Oct. 6
See who YWCA honored at 37th annual Tribute to Women
(News Sentinel) ORNL's Rose Montgomery was awarded the Science, Technology and Environment award at the YWCA’s 37th annual Tribute to Women event at the Mill and Mine. Oct. 6
A national laboratory comes up with a new version of a very basic metal
(Federal News Network) Cars, planes and boats will be stronger and longer lasting thanks to a new metal alloy. It was developed by scientists at ORNL. Oct. 5
How new scientific developments may make nuclear fusion a reality
(Grunge) "If a nuclear reactor is over six times the temperature of the sun, why didn't the nuclear fusion test just, I don't know, incinerate the world?" For that, we turn to tungsten, as ORNL explains. MSN also ran the story. Oct. 4
A 'megaflood' could be California's next 'big one'
(Spectrum News 1) UCLA’s team will work with state and federal agencies like the USGS, the California Department of Water Resources and ORNL to forecast impacts of a megaflood at a hyperlocal level. Oct. 4
Is OTP a viable alternative to NIST's post-quantum algorithms?
(Security Week) Qrypt uses quantum random number generators licensed from ORNL and Los Alamos National Laboratory. These are quantum entropy sources that are the only known source of genuine randomness in science. Oct. 4
Online tool offers industry easier way to track carbon footprint
(Tech Xplore) Researchers at ORNL have developed an online tool that offers industrial plants an easier way to track and download information about their energy footprint and carbon emissions. Oct. 4
Moss genome study identifies two new species
(Phys.org) A team from ORNL, Duke University and other institutions studying Sphagnum moss have identified two new species in North America, and they are learning how evolution may affect the species' role in carbon storage. Oct. 4
Q&A: ORNL's director on preparing for the next 'time machine' supercomputer after Frontier
(News Sentinel) ORNL again changed science and technology forever by reclaiming the title of world's fastest supercomputer with Frontier, which gives researchers new abilities to find solutions for global issues like climate change, COVID-19 and advanced materials. The Oak Ridger and Yahoo! News also ran the story. Oct. 2
New tech could provide cheaper, less-polluting way to refine crude oil
(Science) ORNL's David Sholl notes that the novel membranes aren’t yet ready for industrial use. They still need to be scaled up from the size of a piece of writing paper to hundreds of square meters and prove durable for months of continuous use. Sept. 30
Scientists develop tech to manage two-way power flow to commercial buildings
(Energy Central) Researchers at ORNL recently demonstrated a new technology to better control how power flows to and from commercial buildings equipped with solar, wind or other renewable energy generation. Sept. 30
From cell phones to drugs: Oak Ridge neutrons have a worldwide impact
(Oak Ridger) Free neutrons in Oak Ridge. They are drawing hundreds of scientists from all over the world to the High Flux Isotope Reactor and Spallation Neutron Source at ORNL. Sept. 29
Can decommissioned mines become green power generators?
(Eos) “The study provides an analysis of theoretical power potential across a select number of underground mines,” said ORNL's Scott DeNeale. “It does not fully consider technical constraints on development, given the national scale of the analysis and data limitations.” Sept. 29
Lithium-ion battery material improves charging speed, storage capacity
(Homeland Security News Wire) Researchers at ORNL and UT Knoxville discovered a key material needed for fast-charging lithium-ion batteries. The commercially relevant approach opens a potential pathway to improve charging speeds for electric vehicles. Sept. 29
Taking it to the streets: ORNL models climate solutions for US cities
(CleanTechnica) ORNL researchers are deploying their broad expertise in climate data and modeling to create science-based mitigation strategies for cities stressed by climate change as part of two DOE Urban Integrated Field Laboratory projects. Sept. 28
Distributed, renewable power is the way forward for Puerto Rico's ravaged grid
(Footprint Coalition) Scientists from ORNL are partnering with local Puerto Rican organizations, nonprofits, and universities to build resilience into independent microgrids powered by renewable energy. Sept. 28
Industry partners use ORNL software to trim carbon footprint of buildings
(Civil and Structural Engineer) Two years after ORNL provided a model of nearly every building in America, commercial partners are using the tool for tasks ranging from designing energy-efficient buildings and cities to linking energy efficiency to real estate value and risk. Sept. 27
Hydro provides reliable electricity even during historic droughts says new study
(Water Power and Dam Construction) A new study funded by DOE's Water Power Technologies Office has found that hydropower has continued to provide reliable electricity even during times of historic droughts. Sept. 27
Nuclear chemist speaks to VSU students
(Valdosta Daily Times/Yahoo! News) Clarice Phelps, nuclear chemist at ORNL, visited Valdosta State University biology and chemistry students. Phelps was part of the ORNL team that collaborated with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research to discover the element Tennessine. Sept. 26
First US exascale supercomputer expected to drive 'eyebrow-raising' national security applications
(Defense Scoop) Top U.S. officials are eager to see potentially game-changing national security applications be enabled by the world’s most powerful supercomputer, Frontier. Sept. 26
ORNL team discovers compound that could lead to faster-charging lithium-ion batteries
(Teknovation) Lithium-ion batteries take a while to charge in large part because of the materials that make the batteries. Researchers at ORNL discovered a key material that could be the solution to this problem, speeding up charge times faster than ever before. Sept. 26
Innov865 Week 2022 wraps up after 23 events, countless connections
(Teknovation) Thursday boasted two big events, starting with the Innovation Crossroads Showcase, where 11 businesses from Cohorts 5 and 6 of the ORNL program pitched their startups. Sept. 25
Northrop Grumman-GKN collaboration hits 3D printing milestone
(Aerospace Manufacturing) GKN Aerospace has completed its largest structural titanium additive manufacturing demonstration to date with the production of a component measuring 8 feet and processed from approximately 100 pounds of titanium at its AM Centre of Excellence located at DOE's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL. Sept. 23
ORNL’s green building simulation tool draws industry partners
(ExecutiveBiz) The AutoBEM software suite has so far simulated energy use for 98 percent of U.S. buildings since its release last year, and has led to collaborative data sharing with private sector organizations such Google. Eco Voice and R&D World ran similar stories. Sept. 23
ORNL scientist working on a more targeted treatment for cancer
(WVLT) Researchers at ORNL are busy working on a new advancement in cancer treatment. Associate Staff Scientist Nikki Thiele at ORNL said this type of treatment involves a chemical element called Radium-223. Sept. 22
Microgrids provide power after Hurricane Fiona; Oak Ridge National Laboratory wants to make them better
(WKRN) Hurricane Fiona devastated Puerto Rico earlier this week, but communities with microgrids were able to get the lights back on faster than others despite the widespread electrical grid failure. ORNL is working to make this technology even more resilient for one community on the island. Sept. 22
ORNL researchers working to make Puerto Rican electricity more reliable
(Teknovation) As Puerto Rico works to recover power after a total island blackout caused by Hurricane Fiona, researchers at ORNL hope their new technology can prevent that from happening again. Sept. 21
Magnetic quantum material broadens platform for probing next-gen information technologies
(Magnetics Business and Technology) Scientists at ORNL used neutron scattering to determine whether a specific material’s atomic structure could host a novel state of matter called a spiral spin liquid. Sept. 21
Innov865 Startup Day winners announced
(WATE) The Judges’ Choice Award was given to Eonix and Don DeRosa, an Innovation Crossroads alumnus. Eonix has created the first semi-autonomous materials R&D system, ATLAS-system, that drastically reduces the time and cost to design new materials for lithium-ion batteries. Teknovation also covered the event. Sept. 21
UT-Battelle, manager of ORNL, receives award for supporting employees who are reserve members of the military
(WBIR) The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award is given by U.S. government to employers for supporting employees who are reserve members of the military. WATE, the Daily Times, the Oak Ridger and WVLT also covered the event. Sept. 19
New study supports bradykinin storm theory of COVID-19's viral pathogenesis
(AZo Life Sciences) A new paper published in Nature Communications adds further evidence to the bradykinin storm theory of COVID-19's viral pathogenesis — a theory that was posited two years ago by a team of researchers at ORNL. Sept. 19
Meet the six companies vying for the $10,000 Knoxville Startup Day prize
(News Sentinel) On Tuesday, Knoxville entrepreneurs — including Innovation Crossroads fellow Don DeRosa with Eonix — will pitch their businesses to a panel of judges composed of venture capitalists, industry leaders and angel investors. Compass also shared the news. Sept. 18
Researchers bring more reliable electricity to Puerto Rican microgrids
(CleanTechnica) ORNL is partnering with local organizations, nonprofits and universities to build resilience into independent microgrids. Sept. 18
Cracking the secrets to earthquake safety
(Highways Today) David McCallen and his EQSIM colleagues have been using the Summit supercomputer at ORNL and the Perlmutter supercomputer at Berkeley Lab to develop very large, detailed models, like their simulations of the San Francisco Bay Area for M7 Hayward fault earthquakes, which has 391 billion model grid points. Sept. 17
ORNL and CHASM partner to decarbonize cement
(Retrofit Magazine) ORNL and CHASM Advanced Materials are joining forces to advance scalable decarbonization technologies from discovery through deployment through a new memorandum of understanding, or MOU. Sept. 16
Satellite data shows how Russia has destroyed Ukrainian grain
(Wired) In order to get a true sense of the damage caused to Ukraine’s grain storage facilities, the Conflict Observatory, in partnership with ORNL, built an object detection algorithm that was able to analyze commercial satellite imagery to find previously unidentified silos that had sustained damage during the conflict. A similar story by Agence France-Presse was published by 20 outlets. Sept. 15
UT System names two interims, outlines national searches for both positions
(Teknovation) Jeff Smith, retired deputy director for operations at ORNL, will serve as interim vice president for research, effective October 15. Sept. 15
ORNL works to build resilience into microgrids in Puerto Rico
(Daily Energy Insider) Scientists from ORNL have partnered with local organizations to build resilience into independent microgrids powered by renewable energy in Puerto Rico. Sept. 14
Wireless EV charging on the go coming to PA Turnpike
(CleanTechnica) DOE greased the wheels with a $4 million grant program for wireless, in-road EV charging 10 years ago. The grant program aimed to build on R&D work by a team at ORNL. Sept. 13
Quantum materials: Entanglement of many atoms discovered
(Paradigm/Medium) In a new article, Xiaoyang Zhu and collaborators at Columbia, the University of Washington, New York University and ORNL show that magnons in CrSBr can pair up with another quasiparticle called an exciton, which emits light, offering the researchers a means to “see” the spinning quasiparticle. Sept. 13
Interactive: Track wildfires in the West
(New York Times) A new interactive map includes active and recent fires as well as population counts calculated using 2020 nighttime estimates from the Landscan population database generated by ORNL. Landscan data was also used in a recent story from CNN about Russian and Ukrainian control of certain regions. Sept. 13
DOE Energy Frontier Research Center on molten salts renewed for four years
(HPCwire) ORNL's Shannon Mahurin will serve as MSEE deputy director. The team includes a total of 20 principal investigators and partner institutions including Idaho National Laboratory, Stony Brook University, and the universities of Iowa, Michigan, Notre Dame, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Sept. 12
Learn about how neutrons help scientists make discoveries on Tuesday
(Oak Ridger) "No Charge, Tremendous Value: How Neutrons Probe Hidden Behaviors of Matter” is the topic of an online lecture to be presented at noon Tuesday by Hans Christen, director of the Neutron Scattering Division at ORNL. Sept. 11
How to build more microgrids in rural communities — and why we should
(Microgrid News) Smart Neighborhood is a community of 62 homes powered by a microgrid, formed through a partnership that included Alabama Power, developer Signature Homes, ORNL and technology vendors. The goal is to understand the benefits of smart systems, including microgrids. Sept. 9
Research infrastructure initiatives in the CHIPS and Science Act
(AIP) The new CHIPS and Science Act outlines an ambitious vision for research infrastructure, encompassing large-scale science facility construction projects such as ORNL's Second Target Station, an enrichment facility for producing stable isotopes and a new radioisotope processing facility. Sept. 8
Inside the Gordon Bell Prize finalist projects
(HPCwire) OceanLight has exascale-caliber competition: not one but two of the other five finalist projects used the new American exascale supercomputer, Frontier, which launched earlier this year at ORNL. Sept. 7
ORNL researcher leads multi-lab team developing QMCPACK
(HPCwire) A multi-lab research team led by ORNL's Paul Kent is developing a computer application called QMCPACK to enable precise and reliable predictions of the fundamental properties of materials critical in energy research. Sept. 7
Inland water carbon emissions on the rise
(CleanTechnica) Global carbon emissions from inland waters such as lakes, rivers, streams, and ponds are being undercounted by about 13% and will likely continue to rise given climate events and land use changes, ORNL scientists found. Sept. 7
ORNL's Freedom Award
(Compass newsletter) UT-Battelle, which manages ORNL, has earned a 2022 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award for its support of employees who are reserve members of the U.S. Armed Forces. Printed Electronics Now also shared the story. Sept. 6
Climate scientists explain Pakistan’s ‘unprecedented’ floods
(The Third Pole) Moetasim Ashfaq, a computational climate scientist at ORNL in the US, confirmed: “La Niña, which has persisted for three consecutive years now, likely played a role in the excessive rainfall this year over Pakistan.” Sept. 6
Getting warmer
(Envirotec) As climate change leads to larger and more frequent wildfires, researchers at ORNL are using sensors, drones and machine learning to both prevent fires and minimize the damage they cause to the electrical grid. Sept. 5
What exascale computing could mean for chemistry
(C&E News) A windowed corner of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility lets the laboratory’s visitors peer into a new scientific wonder: a bright, white room filled with rows of sleek, black cabinets that each hold more than 3,600 kg of high-performance computing hardware. Sept. 2
Recycling rare earth elements from discarded electronics
(Advanced Science News) The membrane designed by Ramesh Bhave, team leader at ORNL, and his team is made from a plastic called polyprolene and filled with tiny porous holes called micropores that help filter the rare earth elements. Sept. 1
HPC career notes: September 2022 edition
(HPCwire) Travis Humble of ORNL was appointed as director of the Quantum Science Center. Preceding this appointment, Humble was named deputy director in August 2020, when DOE established this five-year, $115 million effort as one of five National Quantum Information Science Research Centers. Sept. 1
U.S. vs. China: The race to build the world’s fastest supercomputers
(Wall Street Journal) The U.S. supercomputer Frontier was crowned the world’s speediest this year, but some computer scientists say China‘s Tianhe-3 may be as fast. WSJ unpacks the tech and design of the machines as the two countries race to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges. Aug. 31
Spark Cleantech Accelerator Demo Day underscored region’s progress as an innovation hub
(Teknovation) Wednesday’s event showcased how Innovation Crossroads and Spark Cleantech Accelerator are making a big difference locally by attracting highly motivated entrepreneurs from around the country to the region with the hope that some of them will remain after their program ends. Aug. 31
ORNL to lead new EFRC focused on polymer electrolytes for energy storage
(Green Car Congress) ORNL has been selected to lead an Energy Frontier Research Center focused on polymer electrolytes for next-generation energy storage devices such as fuel cells and solid-state electric vehicle batteries. Teknovation also covered the news. Aug. 31
OLCF’s Doug Kothe on pushing Frontier across the exascale line and the future of leadership supercomputers
(Inside HPC) Everyone involved in the Frontier supercomputer project got a taste of what a moonshot is like. Granted, lives were not on the line with Frontier as they were when Armstrong and Aldrin went to the moon. But in other ways there are parallels between the space mission and standing up Frontier. Aug. 30
Scientists offer new theory on how plants can orchestrate the rhythms of light
(Global Plant Council) A team of scientists led by ORNL developed a theory that thylakoids, membrane networks key to plant photosynthesis, also function as a defense mechanism to harsh growing conditions, which could aid the development of hardier plants. Aug. 30
Researchers evaluate residual strain in real-time
(3D Printing Media Network) Scientists from the GE Global Research, the University of California, Berkeley, and the Spallation Neutron Source performed neutron experiments and computational modeling to understand the AM and annealing process. Aug. 30
ORNL announces TIP funding to accelerate commercial readiness of five technologies
(Teknovation) Five technologies invented by scientists at ORNL have been selected for targeted investment through the lab’s Technology Innovation Program. Aug. 30
ORNL using drones, sensors, and math to help fight wildfires
(Teknovation) Researchers at ORNL are doing what they can to both prevent fires and reduce their damage, specifically in regard to the electrical grid. Aug. 29
Inside Tennessee preview | Dr. Thomas Zacharia, director of ORNL
(WBIR) Inside Tennessee focused its Aug. 28 episode on ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia, who is leaving at the end of the year after serving in that post for more than five years. Watch Inside TN: T. Zacharia, Part 1; Inside TN: T. Zacharia, Part 2; Inside TN: T. Zacharia, Part 3; and Inside TN: T. Zacharia, Part 4. Aug. 29
ORNL wins seven 'R&D 100 Awards,' one in a collaboration with UT Knoxville
(Teknovation) Being a scientist won’t often get you a Grammy or an Emmy, but it can get you an R&D 100 Award, which the research community dubbed “the Oscars of Innovation.” And the Oscar goes to ... ORNL, with seven wins this year, including one collaboration with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Aug. 28
Perceptron: Face-tracking ‘earables,’ analog AI chips, and accelerating particle accelerators
(TechCrunch) Over at ORNL, an AI-powered platform is letting them do Hyperspectral Computed Tomography using neutron scattering, finding optimal… maybe we should just let them explain. Aug. 26
Tech faculty, students create faster flood simulator
(Upper Cumberland Business Journal) Tennessee Tech University professors and a handful of their students are taking technology from video games and applying it to technology designed to predict floods, and in turn save lives. A partnership with ORNL has enabled them to produce the TRITON program. Aug. 25
ORNL scientists discover cancer trigger; could spur targeted drug therapies
(Oak Ridger) ORNL research could lead to new therapies for some types of cancer. The team’s findings, published in Nature Communications Biology, open up a new avenue for the development of selective drug therapies to fight a variety of cancers such as those that begin in the breast and stomach. Aug. 25
Lithium supply concerns intensify even as processing solutions proliferate
(Engineering and Mining Journal) An ORNL project involves brine as a source of lithium production; in this case, from geothermal power plants and mine tailings. Leftover brine from geothermal power generation contains high concentrations of certain minerals, along with a much lower concentration of lithium. August edition
Knoxville company wins DOD award for supporting National Guard employees
(WATE) UT-Battelle, which manages ORNL for DOE, was nominated by Maj. Maria McClelland, who serves with the 119th Cyber Operations Squadron in Knoxville and works for ORNL. Aug. 24
USNC opens fuel manufacturing facility
(Reuters Events) “It’s great to get PFM up and running here in Oak Ridge, which has a uniquely qualified nuclear workforce and contractor community,” said executive vice president of Ultra Safe Nuclear Kurt Terrani. ORNL is one of DOE's leading science and energy research facilities and is home to the Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate. 3DPrint.com also covered the event. Aug. 24
Researchers use neutron scattering to measure internal strain in metal AM parts
(Metal AM) Researchers from ORNL; University of California, Berkeley; General Electric Global Research Center; and Japan Atomic Energy Agency have released a paper studying neutron scattering to measure internal strain in additively manufactured samples before, during and after annealing. AZo Materials also shared the story. Aug. 23
Earlier than expected 'seed capital' investment will accelerate UT-ORII initiatives
(Teknovation) Thanks to a recommendation by Governor Bill Lee and action by the Tennessee General Assembly in the 2022 session, the state’s “seed capital” investment in UT-ORII was fully committed years ahead of the plan. Aug. 22
Big Ideas Welcome podcast: 'I Gotta Be Honest' with Tom Ballard
(Big Ideas Welcome on Spotify) Chris McAdoo is joined by Tom Ballard, a legendary "community builder" who has a true understanding of the power of relationships. Aug. 22
2022 R&D 100 Award Winners
(R&D World) Seven ORNL technologies received R&D100 awards today including DuAlumin-3D, Gremlin, RapidCure, SolidPAC, Ultraclean Condensing Gas Furnace, Flash-X and Grid-Eye. RapidCure also received special recognition in the green tech category. Aug. 22
Interview: Justin Whitt and a new Frontier for the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility
(WUOT) The Frontier supercomputer is the world’s first exascale supercomputer — with an exact HPL score of 1.102 exaflop/s — and has just made its formal debut at OLCF at ORNL. Aug. 22
First 'Innovation Crossroads Founders’ Forum' featured a program alum and serial entrepreneur
(Teknovation) Held Thursday afternoon at the Casual Pint in Hardin Valley, the event featured Mitch Ishmael, co-founder and chief technology officer of Active Energy Systems, and Bill Malkes, chief executive officer of NellOne Therapeutics Inc. Aug. 21
Ultra Safe Nuclear opens Oak Ridge PFM facility for fuel manufacturing
(3D Printing Media Network) Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, the Seattle-based global leader in the development of nuclear fission microreactors, opened its PFM facility in Oak Ridge. The 3D printing process for manufacturing refractory ceramic carbides was developed at ORNL and licensed by USNC. Nuclear Engineering International also reported the story. Aug. 20
Real-time evaluation of residual strain improves 3D printed metal parts
(Nanowerk) Scientists from the GE Global Research, the University of California, Berkeley, and the Spallation Neutron Source, a DOE Office of Science user facility at ORNL, performed neutron experiments and computational modeling to understand the AM and annealing process. Aug. 20
Keeping refrigerants even with piezoelectric-driven magnetic actuators
(Engineered Systems) ORNL researchers demonstrated that microchannel heat exchangers in HVAC units can keep refrigerants evenly and continually distributed by inserting a device called a piezoelectric-driven magnetic actuator. Aug. 20
Fighting wildfires with sensor, drone and machine learning technology
(EE Power) ORNL researchers are developing new systems using sophisticated sensors, unmanned drones and computerized machine learning to help prevent wildfires and reduce damage to the electrical grid once a fire is underway. WATE also covered the news and IEEE Spectrum included ORNL's video from this story in a weekly robotics video roundup. Aug. 19
New magnetic interactions might provide unique techniques to control electron transport
(Tech Explorist) Scientists from Ames National Laboratory and ORNL have recently discovered magnetic interactions in the Kagome layered topological magnet TbMn6Sn6. The discovery could lead to customizing how electrons flow through these materials. Aug. 19
Frontier exascale unveiling: ‘Breathtaking…, a huge leap forward for science, for our country'
(Inside HPC) It was a day of high pride at ORNL, a day to stop and take stock of the successful completion of a project based on an idea – exascale computing – that was begun more than 20 years ago. The Oak Ridger and WYSH also reported on the dedication of Frontier. Aug. 19
Computational scientist George Biros looks forward to new era of exascale
(HPCwire) Biros is excited about the new age of exascale supercomputing, which the HPC community recently entered with the unveiling of the Frontier system at ORNL, capable of more than a billion billion, or one exaflop, calculations per second. Aug. 19
SkyNano to convert CO2 Into solid carbon
(Forbes) Anna Douglas, an alumna of ORNL's Innovation Crossroads program, was interviewed about her company's future in two parts. Read part one and part two. Aug. 18
New porous material efficiently extracts uranium from seawater
(C&E News) As the properties of such membranes improve, uranium recovery from seawater becomes more economically favorable than mining uranium from land, says Costas Tsouris, who is a chemical engineer at ORNL. Aug. 18
Oak Ridge National Lab officials view new innovation push as modern day ‘Manhattan Project’
(FedScoop) The U.S. government has perhaps its best chance in recent decades to drive technological innovation, ORNL officials told leaders of the departments of Defense and Energy on Wednesday, with some likening it to the push for new capabilities during the World War II era. Aug. 17
ORNL researcher Bobby Sumpter named fellow of 2 scientific professional societies
(HPCwire) ORNL Corporate Fellow and Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences researcher Bobby Sumpter has been named fellow of two scientific professional societies: the Institute of Physics and the International Association of Advanced Materials. Aug. 17
Hicks’ multi-state tour to focus on emerging and disruptive defense tech
(FedScoop) Hicks met with ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia and other Energy Department leaders and scientists to learn about ongoing efforts to bolster American supply chains — particularly as nations everywhere grapple with a semiconductor shortage exacerbated by the pandemic. Hicks met with researchers and students, saw the first U.S. exascale supercomputer, and toured two manufacturing facilities. Stories from Inside Defense and WATE focused on visits to the area by officials. The Frontier dedication event was covered by WATE, WVLT, WFLX, HPCwire, Data Center Dynamics and WDEF. Aug. 16
Glimpse into ORNL Quantum Science Center efforts to find the elusive Majorana and much more
(HPCwire) The Quantum Science Center, headquartered at ORNL, is one of five such centers created by the National Quantum Initiative Act in 2018 and run by DOE. They all have distinct and overlapping goals. Aug. 16
Kingston Springs student spends summer developing carbon capture technology
(The Exchange) Anna Johnson worked in the lab of Professor Sheng Dai at a state-of-the-art research facility just off campus, which is home to many professors who work both for UT-Knoxville and for ORNL. Aug. 16
2021 R&D 100 winner of the day: QED: Quantum Ensured Defense of the Smart Electric Grid
(R&D World) Quantum-Ensured Defense of the Smart Electric Grid — a project between LANL, ORNL and EPB — is a new approach for electric grid security using quantum information. Aug. 15
ORNL using advanced technologies to prevent wildfires and predict where they may spread
(WBIR) By using sensors, drones and machine learning, researchers hope to remotely sense electrical arcing and faulty equipment. CleanTechnica, HPCwire and AZoSensors also reported the story. Aug. 15
New DOE report supports the retrofitting of non-powered dams in the US
(International Journal of Hydropower and Dams) A new report released by DOE in July, based on research by ORNL, identifies the potential and key development challenges in retrofitting non-powered U.S. dams. Aug. 15
Rare earth recycling
(Compass newsletter) China controls the supply chain for REEs (more on that below), but researchers at ORNL and Momentum Technologies have developed an industrial-scale process for recycling them from the millions of tons of e-waste generated in the United States each year. Aug. 15
How to remove chromium, arsenic from mining-polluted water
(Mining.com) Researchers at ORNL have discovered an adsorbent with high selectivity for chromium and arsenic in real conditions where water resources contain many chemically similar elements. Aug. 14
The Goldilocks of radioisotopes, just right for treating cancer
(Santa Fe New Mexican) As part of DOE's Tri-Lab Research Effort to Provide Accelerator-Produced Actinium-225 for Radioimmunotherapy, ORNL, LANL, and BNL are playing a crucial role in producing this potentially life-saving nuclear medicine. Aug. 14
Q&A with ORNL’s Bronson Messer, an HPCwire Person to Watch in 2022
(HPCwire) Messer recaps ORNL’s journey to exascale and sheds light on how all the pieces line up to support the all-important science. Also covered are the role of the Exascale Computing Project, insights into architectural directions and evolving HPC-AI synergies. Aug. 12
SC22 unveils ACM Gordon Bell Prize finalists
(HPCwire) The finalist projects for the 2022 ACM Gordon Bell Prize include ORNL scientists Ramakrishnan Kannan and ORNL supercomputers Frontier and Summit. Aug. 12
Researchers discover adsorbent material that filters toxic chromium and arsenic from water supplies
(Water and Wastewater Asia) ORNL researchers are tackling a global water challenge with a material designed to target not one, but two toxic, heavy metal pollutants for simultaneous removal. Aug. 11
Researchers scaling up technology for recycling rare earth elements
(Industry and Energy) To recycle valuable materials in the millions of tons of electronic waste produced annually in the United States, researchers from ORNL and Momentum Technologies have piloted an industrial-scale process. E-Scrap News also shared the story. Aug. 11
Humble named director of the Quantum Science Center
(HPCwire) The QSC is a multi-institutional partnership that spans industry, academia and government institutions and is tasked with uncovering the full potential of quantum materials, sensors and algorithms. Aug. 9
The facts behind hydropower and HydroSource
(CleanTechnica) To further the potential benefits of the nation’s hydropower resources, ORNL researchers have developed and maintain a comprehensive water energy digital platform called HydroSource that informs key stakeholders of development and operational costs, environmental concerns and licensing requirements. Aug. 8
ORNL’s URBAN-NET infrastructure modeling tool to be incorporated into EAGLE-I
(HPCwire) This integration will enable CIS interdependency analysis by considering FEMA’s seven community lifelines simultaneously in an integrated data and computational framework while capturing various types of complex interdependencies into a holistic model. Aug. 5
ORNL’s Lindsey Twardy appointed to GEM board of directors
(HPCwire) The National GEM Consortium, one of the premier organizations for the best and brightest underrepresented minority STEM talent in the country, has appointed ORNL Chief of Staff Lindsey Twardy as a member of its board of directors. Teknovation also shared the news. Aug. 5
How heatwaves have taken a heavy toll on South Asian women
(Nation) Moetasim Ashfaq, a computational climate scientist at ORNL, says the evidence is clear that such events are set to become more intense and more frequent. Currently, the planet is 1.1 degree Celsius warmer than in the pre-industrial era. Aug. 5
HPC career notes: August 2022 edition
(HPCwire) Rafael Ferreira da Silva, a senior research scientist in the Data Lifecycle and Scalable Workflows group at ORNL, was promoted to senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Aug. 5
How do you build a green data center?
(IT Pro) You only have to look at ORNL's Frontier supercomputer to see what might be possible. It’s the world’s fastest supercomputer, with a theoretical peak performance of 1.686 exaflops, yet also the world’s most energy-efficient supercomputer, with 52.23 gigaflops of performance per watt. Aug. 4
ORNL’s supercomputer-powered TRITON tool models flooding
(HPCwire) Researchers from ORNL and Tennessee Technological University have created the TRITON toolkit, which leverages GPUs to quickly create accurate 2D inundation maps of given areas. Aug. 3
National laboratories focused on increasing Ac-225 supply
(Applied Radiology) As part of DOE's Isotope R&D and Production Program’s Tri‐Lab Research Effort, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Brookhaven national laboratories are playing a crucial role in producing Ac-225, a potentially life-saving radioisotope. Aug. 3
EOS and US DOE to conduct metal AM quality control research at ORNL
(3D Printing Media Network) EOS, a leading supplier for manufacturing solutions based on industrial 3D printing technology, has entered into a CRADA with DOE concerning AM quality control, at ORNL. Design World also shared the news. Aug. 3
Turning e-waste back into tech
(Technology Networks) Researchers at ORNL and Momentum Technologies have piloted an industrial-scale process for recycling valuable materials in the millions of tons of e-waste generated annually in the United States. Aug. 2
Siemens announces collaboration with ORNL
(Manufacturing News) DOE's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL is a pioneering institution focusing on manufacturing analysis and simulation, materials development, large-scale metal systems, robotics and automation. Aug. 1
UMaine constructing a prototype house of 3d-printed materials including wood 'residuals'
(Composites Manufacturing Magazine) The UMaine team, working in partnership with researchers at ORNL is using wood residuals such as sawdust and construction debris to create wood flour which is bound into pellets by biopolymers for use in the 3D printing process. Woodworking Network also covered the story. Aug. 1
Meet the finalists of YWCA Knoxville's Tribute to Women awards
(News Sentinel) Rose Montgomery is a leading researcher at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She performs research on used nuclear fuel storage and disposal. July 31
SMART internship for STEM students
(WATE) University of Tennessee-ORNL's SMaRT Internships allows students from across the county to work alongside researchers at UT Knoxville, UT Chattanooga and ORNL for 10 weeks. July 29
Low-void, large-scale, high-volume 3D-printed composites
(Composites World) Among its many composites-related projects, ORNL recently installed its first AMCM test cell, combining extrusion with compression molding for fast, low-void, low-porosity thermoplastic composite parts. July 29
‘Visionary scientist’ looks to inspire new generation
(Tennessee Ledger) Before taking charge of a wide range of ORNL research and development projects from computing to energy research, Susan Hubbard worked at California’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she served as associate laboratory director of earth and environmental sciences and led efforts to find sustainable solutions to all types of challenges. July 29
ORNL’s Rafael Ferreira da Silva elevated to IEEE senior member
(Inside HPC) Rafael Ferreira da Silva, a senior research scientist in the Data Lifecycle and Scalable Workflows group at ORNL, has been elevated to the grade of senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. July 28
Judging panel announced for 2022 R&D 100 awards program
(R&D World) Ilia Ivanov has won three Battelle Distinguished Inventor technology commercialization awards and holds 11 patents. July 28
Improving metadata for digital journals access: An interview with junior fellow Amy Snyder
(Library of Congress) "My career goal is to become a rare book cataloger at the Library of Congress ... I now attend the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, pursuing my master’s in Information Sciences and I am a two-year intern at ORNL," said Snyder. July 28
Air conditioning is a climate disaster; Bill Gates is investing in this startup to fix it
(CNBC) Blue Frontier is taking the technology, which has been proven in prototypes tested at NREL and ORNL, and scaling it up for commercial buildings first. July 28
ORNL’s supercomputer #1 on Top 500 list
(Federal News Network) Just a few years ago it took teraflops — or trillions of floating point operations per second — to make the list of the world’s fastest computers. Now it takes exaflops, quintillions of operations per second. And now ORNL has switched on a machine that makes 1.1 exaflops of performance. It’s called Frontier. July 28
2D material offers novel spin state for spintronics
(Electronics Weekly) Students of spintronics have another spin state to add to their tool box: a 2D material hosting a ‘spiral spin liquid’ – in which magnetic spins form fluctuating corkscrew-like structures. ORNL grew the host material and demonstrated this long-predicted behavior. AZo Materials also shared the research. July 28
Adsorbent material filters toxic chromium, arsenic from water supplies
(Smart Water Magazine) Researchers at ORNL are tackling a global water challenge with a unique material designed to target not one, but two toxic, heavy metal pollutants for simultaneous removal. CleanTechnica also covered the news. July 27
Top 5 supercomputers of 2022
(Tech Republic video) Frontier is the first U.S. system to exceed one exaflop. It is now being integrated and tested at ORNL. Its capabilities and features include achieving 1.102 exaflops with 8,730,112 cores. July 27
Data science teams analyzed COVID data for early pandemic response
(Medical Xpress) In two separate projects, teams of ORNL scientists combined various types of publicly available information to create dashboards of COVID-19 data accessible to authorities to make informed decisions. July 27
New electromechanical sensor can detect gas leaks in a split second
(Hackster.io) ORNL researchers have designed a device capable of identifying gas leaks within seconds and transmitting a signal to alert emergency services if one is detected. July 26
Gas prices continue to soar: 12 ways to save money at the pump
(WKOW) A study by ORNL found that aggressive behavior behind the wheel can lower gas mileage in light-duty vehicles by about 10% to 40% in stop-and-go traffic and roughly 15% to 30% at highway speeds. July 26
IperionX and Oak Ridge National Lab agree on 3D-printing project for titanium powders
(Business Journals) IperionX LTD will collaborate with ORNL to develop low-cost, 3D-printing applications for the Charlotte company’s titanium metal powders. 3D Printing Industry, Powder Metallurgy Review and ExecutiveBiz also shared the news. July 26
Terahertz light experiments herald downsized particle accelerators
(Photonics Media) ORNL scientists investigating how to produce and use terahertz light to enable particle accelerators developed an electro-optical sampling technique that measures THz wavelengths while at the same time maintaining the correlation between position and time in the THz pulses. July 25
ORNL debuts Cumulus-2 cluster for climate data
(HPCwire) Amid the much-deserved fanfare for the exascale Frontier system at ORNL, the lab, in April, launched a much smaller, but more laser-focused system: Cumulus-2, an HPC cluster serving the DOE’s Atmospheric Radiation Management user facility. July 22
General Fusion receives two funding awards from DOE to advance Magnetized Target Fusion technology
(Green Car Congress) General Fusion and ORNL will expand their existing research partnership to enhance open plasma modeling tools and enable a powerful approach to efficient modelling of General Fusion’s fusion machine. July 22
LLNL cancer research goes exascale
(Technology.org) Led by Harsh Bhatia, a computer scientist in the Center of Applied Computing at LLNL, the team was awarded limited access to Frontier under DOE's Advanced Scientific Research Center Leadership Computing Challenge program. July 21
4 ways computer vision will reshape urban transportation
(Forbes) Researchers at ORNL used machine learning and computer vision to design a system that can keep traffic moving efficiently through intersections and also minimize fuel wastage. July 20
ORNL looks to disrupt cancer
(Compass newsletter) Researchers at ORNL have linked the function of a specific domain of proteins important in plant-microbe biology to a cancer trigger in humans. July 20
ORNL announces six start-ups that will form Cohort 6 of its “Innovation Crossroads” program
(Teknovation) The new group of fellows who will be here for two years include four sponsored by the DOE Advanced Manufacturing Office with DOE’s Building Technologies Office and the Tennessee Valley Authority each sponsoring one innovator in the Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program. July 20
ORNL’s neutron experiment vs. Stranger Things’ upside down
(Tomorrow's World Today) Physicists at ORNL designed and ran an experiment to see if neutrons could travel between being mirror neutrons and regular ones. July 19
A fresh look at nuclear power
(Digital Engineering 24/7) In 1965, ORNL began operating HFIR, described as the strongest reactor-based neutron source in the United States. The operations involve a neutron scattering facility used by more than 500 researchers worldwide to study material properties at the atomic scale. July 19
Isotope supply chain at risk from war in Ukraine
(AIP) U.S. supplies have dwindled since the 1990s when ORNL stopped producing them. DOE is reconstituting this capability at ORNL through construction of the Stable Isotope Production and Research Center, which will enrich large-scale amounts of multiple stable isotopes simultaneously using modern electromagnetic separation methods and gas centrifuges. July 15
Scientists use neutrons to study engine material while its running
(Highways Today) Researchers from Eck Industries, UT Knoxville, ORNL and the U.S. Navy used neutrons at the Spallation Neutron Source to probe the behaviour of a new AlCe alloy in a combustion engine. EcoRoads also ran the story. July 15
Community Matters: Dr. Colleen Iversen and the intersection of science, art, and community.
(KAXE) Dr. Colleen Iversen discusses her enthusiasm for science, art and community. In addition to her day job as a senior staff scientist at ORNL, Colleen also creates breathtaking multimedia embroidery featuring her scientific subjects, special places and the interests of her friends and family. July 14
ORNL Director Zacharia to retire
(Inside HPC) Dr. Thomas Zacharia announced his retirement as director of ORNL at the end of 2022, the culmination of a 35-year career at the science and energy laboratory. MeriTalk and Printed Electronics Now also reported the news. July 14
Physicists confront the neutron lifetime puzzle
(STEM Magazine) To solve a long-standing puzzle about how long a neutron can “live” outside an atomic nucleus, physicists entertained a wild but testable theory positing the existence of a right-handed version of our left-handed universe. They designed a mind-bending experiment at ORNL to try to detect a particle that has been speculated but not spotted. July issue
Plant-microbe biology provides insight to human cancer trigger
(Inside Precision Medicine) New ORNL research detailing a specific domain of proteins that are important in plant-microbe biology have now been linked to a cancer trigger in humans, information that has eluded scientists for decades which could play a role in developing targeted therapies for cancers. July 13
R&D 100 winner of the day: GridDamper
(R&D World) GridDamper, from ORNL, Electric Power Research Institute and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, is a field-deployment-ready technology to mitigate three major categories of oscillations (natural, forced and sub-synchronous) and allow more renewable electricity in power grids. July 13
Getting to market faster with 3D printed sand tooling
(SME) Amy Elliott, group leader of robotics and intelligent systems at ORNL, acknowledged, “There is a need for strong, cheap tools.”... A research team including Elliott designed a novel polymer binder to produce increased-strength silica sand parts. July 13
ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia, a supercomputing leader, plans to retire
(News Sentinel) ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia announced he will retire at the end of the year. Zacharia has served in the position since 2017 and had a 35-year career at the laboratory, one of the top science and technology centers in the world. The Oak Ridger, Teknovation, WATE, WVLT, WBIR, HPCwire, FedScoop and Compass reported the news as well. July 12
Yet another avenue for trying to make federal buildings go green
(Federal News Network) Alexis McKittrick, DOE’s geothermal technology offices program manager, said, "ORNL is going to partner with a number of other labs that have different expertise related to building codes to design of these systems, to understanding loads on the grids, and the impact that these systems can have within the federal space." July 11
Forests and carbon: Carbon sequestration in bogs and peatlands
(KAXE) ORNL's Paul Hanson, the principal investigator on the SPRUCE project in Northern Minnesota, spoke to KAXE's morning show about carbon sequestration in spruce bogs and the goals of the SPRUCE project. July 11
A new supercomputer just set a world record for speed
(Science News for Students) The Frontier supercomputer at ORNL is currently the first supercomputer in history to show a processor speed of 1.1 exaFLOPS (1.1 quintillion floating point operations per second, or FLOPS). In another story for the outlet, Justin Whitt explains supercomputing. Dataconomy also reported on Frontier. July 11
How to stay cool in a heat wave: 5 Fast Facts
(Verify) Mahabir Bhandari, a member of the ORNL’s Building Envelope and Urban Systems Research Group, told VERIFY he believes it would be more effective to cover windows from the outside rather than inside the home. This segment has been shared by 39 news outlets across the U.S. July 8
ORNL researcher models fire's growing footprint in a changing climate
(Hellbender Press) According to Jiafu Mao, an ORNL scientist who works with computational models to gauge potential climate conditions and create more credible wildfire simulations, rising temperatures could lead to increased wildfire situations in the Smoky Mountains. July 8
Research roundup: Plant-based protein-microbe domain linked to human cancer triggers
(BioSpace) Researchers with ORNL found that the plasminogen-apple-nematode (PAN) domain is tied to cell proliferation that drives tumor growth in humans. It also drives defense signaling during plant-microbe interactions in bioenergy crops. July 8
TennSMART expo touts Tennessee EV leadership
(Chattanooga Times Free Press briefs package) "We believe Tennessee is a place where businesses can succeed in the transportation technology industry because of the rich, collaborative environment supported by organizations like TennSMART," said Rich Davies, board president of TennSMART and director of the Sustainable Transportation Program at ORNL. July 8
Military Snaps to Attention
(Roofers Coffee Shop) The project targeted retrofitting an 11,900-square-foot metal roof on a 10,000-square-foot Security Forces building at Goodfellow Air Force Base. Prior to the installation of the roof system, ORNL installed a data acquisition system to monitor various temperatures and heat information on the building. July 7
Propane sensor and transmitter offer split-second leak detection
(Tech Xplore) ORNL researchers demonstrated that an electrochemical sensor paired with a transmitter not only detects propane leaks within seconds, but it can also send a signal to alert emergency services. July 7
ORNL: Hydropower - Retrofitting untapped dams
(Energy Central News) Researchers at ORNL are assessing the viability of retrofitting non-powered dams, which may add up to 12 gigawatts of additional electricity to the power grid -- enough to power 9 million homes or every home in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. Homeland Security News Wire also reported on the news. July 7
Hydropower — Retrofitting untapped dams
(CleanTechnica) Researchers at ORNL are assessing the viability of retrofitting some of these non-powered dams, which may add up to 12 gigawatts of additional electricity to the power grid — enough to power 9 million homes or every home in Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia. July 7
“We believe the future of manufacturing is additive" - Siemens teams with Oak Ridge National Laboratory
(TCT Magazine) DOE's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL is a pioneering institution focusing on manufacturing analysis and simulation, materials development, large-scale metal systems, robotics and automation. July 7
HPCwire talks exascale with Doug Kothe
(HPCwire) Doug Kothe – associate laboratory director, Computing and Computational Sciences at ORNL, and director of the Exascale Computing Project – discusses Frontier’s progress, the significance of breaking the exaflops barrier, and the first applications that will run on Frontier. July 6
Oak Ridge scientists make breakthrough discovery that could stop the spread of cancer
(Local 3 News Chattanooga) Researchers at ORNL have definitively linked the function of a specific domain of proteins important in plant-microbe biology to a cancer trigger in humans, knowledge that had eluded scientists for decades. AZo Life Sciences and Technology Networks also reported the news. July 5
It’s a busy time for Techstars’ Tricia Martinez
(Teknovation) It’s a busy time for Tricia Martinez, Managing Director of the Techstars Industries of the Future Accelerator, who just put the wraps on the Boulder-based organization’s first cohort in late May. She’s following-up with each of the 10 participants to gain their feedback along with representatives from ORNL, TVA and the UT System. July 5
Technology and innovation are in Knoxville's DNA; these businesses are keeping that alive
(News Sentinel) Some of East Tennessee's biggest stakeholders, from UT to ORNL, have a lot riding on the tech industry. Tech occupations are projected to grow 13% from 2020 to 2030, which is the fastest average among all other occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. July 4
Power Players: 10 researchers leading Biden’s efforts to make electric cars cheap enough for the masses by cracking battery recycling
(Business Insider) DOE's ReCell Advanced Battery Recycling Group includes several powerhouse researchers in EV battery innovation including ORNL's Ilis Belharouk and Sheng Dai. The full text of the article is available from Electric Hybrids Vehicle. July 2
Did Oak Ridge National Lab scientists discover a parallel universe like in ‘Stranger Things’?
(News Sentinel) Comparisons between the alternate universe in the popular Netflix sci-fi horror series and the work of a team lead by physicist Leah Broussard of Oak Ridge National Laboratory began when the team pondered if they could send theorized particles called mirror neutrons through a “portal.” WATE and Paradigm also reported on Broussard's work. July 1
Summit Spins Up Research for Streamlined Carbon Fiber Production
(HPCwire) ORNL’s exascale Frontier system may be stealing some of the spotlight, but the lab’s 148.6 Linpack petaflops Summit system is still churning out powerful science. Recently, for instance, the supercomputer hosted research studying the structure of carbon fiber in an attempt to make the mass production process easier. July 1
A fast and economical method to convert methane into liquid methanol under ambient conditions
(AZo Materials) To help observe how the process works and how selective it is, the researchers used neutron scattering at the VISION instrument at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source. Other outlets reporting this news include New Atlas, Tech Explorist, ChemEurope and Highways Today. July 1
Why U.S. science needs costly supercomputers; China could overtake US
(Oak Ridger) Thanks to Frontier, DOE's first $600 million exascale supercomputer — located at ORNL — the United States ranks first on the Top500 supercomputer list in the number of calculations that can be performed per second. June 29
Tennessee lab isn’t trying to open parallel universe portal
(AP) Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in eastern Tennessee conducted an experiment in 2019 to study a type of “exotic” neutron behavior, which some news outlets referred to as searching for “portals” to “parallel” realities. June 29
No, ORNL is not opening a portal to a parallel universe
(WBIR) Information about an ORNL researcher's work was released alongside the latest Stranger Things season, inspiring posts about whether parallel universes are real. WATE, WVLT and WHAS also reported on the work. June 28
VERIFY: Is there more ethanol in our gasoline?
(CBS19) ORNL's Shean Huff said ethanol has been blended into gasoline for the last two decades. It replaced lead and methyl tert-butyl ether as an additive to increase the octane in gasoline, which prevents the engine from knocking. June 28
SME announces 2022 Sandra L. Bouckley Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineers
(SME) This year’s 22 awardees were selected based on their diverse manufacturing backgrounds, technology advancements/improvements and state-of-the-art research and include ORNL scientists Amy Elliott, Thomas Feldhausen, Vipin Kumar and Kyle Saleeby. June 28
Advancing the A in PTA
(GPS World) ORNL's Carter Christopher described the lab’s Center for Alternate Synchronization and Timing (CAST), which provides a redundant and resilient satellite-based service backed up by a network of terrestrial master clocks. June 27
As heat waves sweep South Asia, they take a hidden toll on women
(The Fuller Project) Moetasim Ashfaq, a computational climate scientist at ORNL, says the evidence is clear that such events are set to become more intense and more frequent. Currently the planet is 1.1 degree Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than in the pre-industrial era. June 27
Tennessee partners launch ‘second-life’ battery storage project as electric vehicle adoption grows
(Williamson Source) Nissan, Middle Tennessee Electric, the University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute, Tennessee State University and Seven States Power Corporation are teaming up to launch a second-life battery storage project. June 26
ORNL upcycling process doubles the strength of ABS for 3D printing
(Design Engineering) Researchers at ORNL announced the development of an upcycling technique that converts discarded plastics for reuse in additive manufacturing. June 26
The beating heart of the world’s first exascale supercomputer
(IEEE Spectrum) The world’s latest fastest supercomputer, Frontier at Oak Ridge National Lab, in Tennessee, is so powerful that it operates faster than the next seven best supercomputers combined and more than twice as well as the No. 2 machine. June 24
The $6 million plan: Department of Energy invests in geothermal
(ACHR News) DOE is investing up to $6 million in research and design to lay the groundwork for more geothermal and cooling systems at federal facilities. The two-year effort will be led by ORNL. June 24
50 million Americans are under a heat advisory and they should be cautious
(NPR) A heat wave is dropping daily temperatures of around 90 degrees all over the country. Around 45 million Americans were under a heat advisory. NPR spoke to Kate Evans, an ORNL atmospheric scientist who develops weather models, about the heat wave. June 24
Rhizosphere-on-a-chip with a simulated soil allows scientists to view how roots grow over time
(AZo LifeSciences) Paired with specialized mass spectrometry techniques, scientist can also use the rhizosphere-on-a-chip to map the location of root-exuded molecules, like amino acids, without hurting the plant. June 23
Orano and TerraPower awarded GAIN vouchers to help advance nuclear technologies
(EE Online) Orano is partnering with ORNL to develop a new technical study that updates the physical chemistry limits of uranium hexafluoride gas enriched up to 10 percent that can be safely transported in existing shipping containers. June 23
Closed-loop additive manufacturing could be possible thanks to ORNL research
(3D Natives) Researchers at ORNL have developed an upcycling approach that allows for discarded plastics to be reused in FFF 3D printing. This thus would allow for fully closed-loop additive manufacturing, officially ensuring that there is no waste in the process. Phys.org also reported on the new technique. June 22
ORNL's hydroelectric improvements
(Compass newsletter) Researchers at ORNL are combining statistical modeling with advanced field methods to monitor six reservoirs in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, according to a news release. June 22
'Machining' with a Microscope
(Cutting Tool Engineering) Scientists at ORNL precisely machined tiny, electrically conductive cubes that can interact with light and organized them in patterned structures that confine and relay the electromagnetic signal of light. June 21
These are the world’s top 10 fastest supercomputers
(World Economic Forum) The US has retaken the top spot in the race to build the world’s fastest supercomputer. 'Frontier' is capable of more than a billion, billion operations a second, making it the first exascale supercomputer. Engineering.com published a story about Frontier's placement at the top of the Green500 list. June 21
HPE supercomputer breaks exascale barrier
(Technology Decisions) ORNL's Frontier, a new supercomputer built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, has become the first supercomputer to break the exascale speed barrier. Frontier Enterprise also reported the news. June 17
Second-life battery storage project announced during yesterday’s 'TVC National Summit'
(Teknovation) Nissan, Middle Tennessee Electric, the University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute, Tennessee State University and Seven States Power Corporation are teaming up to launch an innovative second-life battery storage project. Williamson Herald and Main Street Nashville also reported the news. June 16
Summit-trained AI brings HPC power to the people
(HPC Wire) GURU, an AI tool trained on ORNL's Summit supercomputer, automates installation and setup for a wide range of simulation programs to shorten tedious work to mere minutes of computation. June 16
ANS Annual Meeting: A new outlook for fusion
(Nuclear Newswire) ORNL's Kathy McCarthy spoke as a panelist at a June 14 ANS Annual Meeting executive session titled “The New Fusion Outlook." June 16
Fusion experts tackle cooling strategies for fusion fuel cycle
(RACA Journal) ORNL fusion experts are exploring how tiny 3D-printed obstacles placed inside the narrow pipes of a custom-made cooling system could be a solution for removing heat from the fusion system "blanket" component. Machine Design also reported the story. June 15
DOE invests $6 million in geothermal heating, cooling technologies at federal facilities
(HVAC and Plumbing Product News) DOE selected ORNL to receive up to $6 million to help expand the deployment of geothermal heating and cooling technology at federal sites. June 15
Closed-loop additive manufacturing fueled by upcycled plastic
(Lab Manager) ORNL researchers have developed an upcycling approach that adds value to discarded plastics for reuse in additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. 3D Printing Industry and Omnexus also reported the news. June 14
Jack Dongarra to present the A.M. Turing Award Lecture as SC22 keynote event
(HPC Wire) Dongarra is a University Distinguished Professor of Computer Science in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at UT. He also holds appointments with ORNL and the University of Manchester. June 14
Yes, aluminum foil can be used over windows to help keep homes cool
(We Are Iowa) Mahabir Bhandari, a member of the ORNL's Building Envelope and Urban Systems Research Group, agreed that aluminum foil and cardboard are useful for cooling the home in emergency situations. June 14
Siemens sets up collaboration with ORNL
(Digital Engineering 247) Siemens has engaged in early-stage research and development projects with multiple partners including ORNL's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, an institution focusing on manufacturing analysis and simulation, materials development, large-scale metal systems, robotics and automation. Modern Machine Shop also reported the news. June 14
Novel upcycling approach adds value to discarded plastics for reuse in additive manufacturing
(AZo Materials) Researchers at ORNL have developed an upcycling approach that adds value to discarded plastics for reuse in additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. AZo CleanTech and the Compass newsletter also shared the news. June 14
Not Lonely at the Top: ORNL Leads Open Science with the Frontier Exascale Supercomputer
(Campus Technology) The latest list, published in June 2022, highlighted a new milestone in computing as ORNL's Frontier HPE Cray EX soared into the number one spot as the first supercomputer ever to demonstrate true exascale speeds. Thomas Insights, Interesting Engineering and World Nuclear News also reported the news. June 13
Siemens and ORNL announce new R&D partnership to boost US manufacturing innovation
(3D Printing Industry) Industrial manufacturing firm Siemens has announced a new research and development partnership with ORNL to enhance the adoption of additive manufacturing, workforce training, and decarbonization efforts within the US manufacturing sector. June 10
Microorganisms mediate Sphagnum peatmoss resilience to warming
(AZO Life Sciences) ORNL scientists discovered that certain bacteria increase the climate resilience of Sphagnum moss, the tiny plant responsible for storing a third of the world's soil carbon in peat bogs. Heat tolerant microbes transfer that protection to the plants, helping them survive climate warming. June 10
R&D 100 winner of the day: BIG NET
(R&D World) BIG NET, from ORNL, ReactWell, and Holocene Climate Corp., is a negative emission technology that captures carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere through direct air capture. The technology involves a new class of absorbents called bis-imino-guanidines that absorb CO2 from air into aqueous solutions and convert it into crystalline carbonate salts. June 10
Anything Is Possible: Thomas Zacharia
(Anything Is Possible with Hallerin Hilton Hill) As a junior scientist, Thomas Zacharia took full advantage of all his opportunities at ORNL, the lab he now leads as director. June 9
ANS names Annual Meeting award winners, two new Fellows
(Nuclear Newswire) Christian M. Petrie, ANS member since 2008 and senior research scientist at ORNL, was recognized for his leadership in developing novel irradiation capabilities, fiber optic sensors, and advanced manufacturing processes for embedding sensors to accelerate qualification of new nuclear materials. June 9
New Superconductors Could Make Faster Quantum Computers
(Lifewire) Making practical quantum computers could hinge on finding better ways to use superconducting materials which have no electrical resistance. ORNL researchers have discovered a method to find linked electrons with extreme precision. June 9
At ISC, the Green500 Witnesses a New Frontier in Efficient Computing
(HPCwire) The “June” (late May, actually) Green500 list was led by ORNL. In first place: Frontier’s test and development system, Frontier TDS—though we prefer its less official name, “Borg.” June 8
Researchers use new technique to examine the composition of cell walls from young poplar trees
(AZO Life Sciences) A team of physicists including Ali Passian, a research scientist at ORNL, and researchers from the French National Centre for Scientific Research, or CNRS, used state-of-the-art microscopy and spectroscopy methods to provide nondestructive alternatives. June 8
ExaSMR Models Small Modular Reactors Throughout Their Operational Lifetime
(HPCwire) According to Steven Hamilton, a senior researcher at ORNL and PI of the project, ExaSMR integrates the most reliable and high-confidence numerical methods for modeling operational reactors. June 8
Newly-Observed Higgs Mode Holds Promise in Quantum Computing
(HPCwire) The first-ever appearance of a previously undetectable quantum excitation known as the axial Higgs mode – exciting in its own right – also holds promise for developing and manipulating higher temperature quantum materials for quantum computing and quantum information sciences broadly. June 8
Critical Update: To Bridge Quantum’s Valley of Death, Labs Need Funding and Workforce
(Nextgov) "The types of quantum computers that we have developed and demonstrated are still on the order of toy problems, you know, demonstrations of the feasibility of quantum computing, but not of its true potential,” Travis Humble, the interim director of the Quantum Science Center, told Nextgov. June 7
This is Nashville: We talk supercomputers
(WPLN) Tennessee is home to the fastest computer in the world. We learn what that means and how long it might take until we have that kind of power in our pockets. Justin Whitt, program director for the DOE’s Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, is a guest. The Financial Times, Yahoo! News and Gadgets 360 also reported on Frontier's exascale debut. June 7
25 Leaders Transforming Manufacturing
(SME) During a 25-year career in materials and manufacturing technologies R&D, Craig Blue has amassed patents, publications and awards. But one of his proudest moments was seeing ORNL’s experts in manufacturing and materials, coupled with its facilities and capabilities, help out in the pandemic. June 7
ORNL and INL develop low-cost rare earth extraction technique
(Powder Metallurgy Review) At the DOE Critical Materials Institute, researchers from ORNL and Idaho National Laboratory have been working together to develop cost-effective technologies for the separation of in-demand, rare-earth elements. June 6
How artificial intelligence brings new superpowers to supercomputers
(VentureBeat) Among the big announcements, AMD revealed that its silicon now powers the most powerful supercomputer ever built with the Frontier system, which is being built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise and will be deployed at ORNL. June 6
Are the world's most powerful supercomputers operating in secret?
(New Scientist) ORNL's supercomputer Frontier has been officially crowned as the world's first exascale computer – one capable of a billion billion operations per second – but more powerful machines may be out there. June 6
US DOE offers funds for geothermal deployment at federal sites
(Think Geoenergy) Working with a team led by ORNL, the U.S. Department of Energy will provide funding to deploy geothermal heating and cooling systems in federal facilities and buildings. June 6
Wildfire in Athens worsened by heavy winds losing intensity
(Al Mayadeen English) A recent study used machine learning to model where wildfires are likely to strike in coming years, as well as their impact on humanity. The researchers, from Peking University in Beijing and ORNL, believe that their work will be used to reveal regional inequalities in wildfire exposure, allowing them to better prepare for flames in particular places. June 5
Slow Down to Save Gas: Fuel Economy Decreases ~27% When at 80 mph vs. 60 mph
(Motor Biscuit) A study showed that the most fuel-efficient speed was somewhere between 40 mph and 50 mph for light-duty vehicles. This applies to cars and light trucks, but ORNL studied 74 different vehicles to get this number. “The best fuel economy is typically obtained when the vehicle is traveling at the lowest speed in the vehicle’s highest gear,” the study noted. June 4
The final Frontier: Talking exascale with Oak Ridge's Jeff Nichols
(Next Platform) Technology could become the final arbiter of how much lithium mining is needed for the all-electric vehicle market of the future. … ORNL has been working on a reusable material that would extract lithium from concentrated brine at geothermal plants. Vice, Data Center Knowledge, The New Stack, Freethink and PC Mag also had new stories about Frontier. June 3
Using advanced microscopy to nanoengineer new materials for computing and electronics
(Swift Telecast) Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University are using advanced microscopy to nanoengineer promising materials for computing and electronics in a beyond-Moore era. June 3
Tailor-made molecules for clean energy
(Verve Times) Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are using state-of-the-art methods to shed light on chemical separations needed to recover rare-earth elements and secure critical materials for clean energy technologies. June 3
New study will help sharpen accuracy for climate-change models and weather prediction
(Techstreet Now) A study led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers promises to help sharpen accuracy for climate-change models and enable more reliable predictions of extreme weather. June 3
Polymers — Better battery electrolytes
(Technology.org) New polymer materials under development at Oak Ridge National Laboratory could enable safer, more stable batteries needed for electric vehicles and grid energy storage. Energy Central also ran the news. June 2
From smartphone skin care to hacker trackers, the Techstars startups could change our world
(News Sentinel) These startups are using new technology, artificial intelligence and big data to address society's biggest challenges, from natural disasters to cybersecurity. ORNL, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the University of Tennessee System invested $9 million to bring Techstars here. June 2
Slow Down To Save Fuel: Fuel Economy Decreases About 27% When Traveling At 80 Mph Versus 60 Mph
(CleanTechnica) Between 40 and 50 mph is the optimum cruising speed for the best fuel economy in cars and light trucks, according to an ORNL study of 74 different vehicles. June 2
USA - Scientists develop environmental justice lens to identify neighborhoods vulnerable to climate change
(Coastal News Today) This method developed by ORNL builds from environmental justice research — a key aspect of the federal government’s strategy to manage the adverse effects of climate change. AZO CleanTech also ran a story. June 2
Understanding Building Energy Use and Microclimate Impacts from Changes in Urban Design
(AZO CleanTech) Five one-year, four-domain (with different levels of horizontal resolution), nested meteorological simulations using 2015 data were run using the Weather Research and Forecasting model on the Titan and Eos supercomputers at ORNL for two locations: one for the ORNL research campus and four for the Chicago Loop area. June 2
East Tennessee's Carbon Valley building a bridge to prosperous economy | Opinion
(News Sentinel) This strategic vision for carbon fiber and composite manufacturing and recycling is exactly what IACMI and our core founding partners — the University of Tennessee and ORNL — have been working towards. June 1
ORNL executes license with Campbell Scientific for technology that monitors plant productivity and health
(Teknovation) Logan, UT-based instrumentation firm Campbell Scientific Inc. has licensed technology developed at ORNL to monitor plant productivity and health at wide scales. June 1
CEMEX USA Promotes Environmental Awareness; Sustainability
(Rock Products) CEMEX USA is collaborating with Carbon Clean and ORNL to develop a pilot breakthrough carbon capture unit at its cement plant in Victorville, Calif. June 1
ORNL, partners launch first experiments using new facility to make cosmic isotopes on Earth
(STEM Magazine, June issue) Two decades in the making, a new flagship facility for nuclear physics opened on May 2, and scientists from ORNL have a hand in 10 of its first 34 experiments. ORNL researchers and their partners at other national laboratories and universities launched the first experiment May 11.
Spiking temperatures could cause more blackouts this summer. They won't be the last.
(Politico) Hotter, drier weather will continue to exacerbate the failures of power plants — particularly coal, gas and nuclear generators — according to Melissa Dumas, a research scientist at ORNL. The story also ran on Yahoo! News. May 31
Will Government Aid Really Boost US Additive Manufacturing?
(Forbes) AM Forward’s plan calls for DOE to make its Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL available to SME manufacturers to test new additive manufacturing techniques. May 31
ORNL announces return of in-person “Technology Innovation Showcase” on June 16
(Teknovation) After a several year hiatus due to COVID-19, ORNL is resuming its annual “Technology Innovation Showcase.” May 30
Frontier Named No. 1 Supercomputer on TOP500 List and ‘First True Exascale Machine’
(Inside HPC) The United States has regained a coveted speed crown in computing with a powerful new supercomputer in Tennessee, a milestone for the technology that plays a major role in science, medicine and other fields. Other coverage included New Scientist, Popular Science, The Register, HPCwire, Next Platform article 1 and article 2, Serve the Home, Tom's Hardware, Engadget/Yahoo! Finance, PC Mag, SingularityHub, Kyodo News, WBIR, WVLT, Tech Radar, New Atlas, WPLN, Computing, Green Car Congress, ZDNet, Teknovation, Data Center Dynamics, Mashable Middle East, AIthority, Financial Times, Graphic Speak, ExecutiveBiz, Interesting Engineering, Federal News Network, Data Center Frontier, Network World, Gizmodo, R&D World, Nextgov, News Sentinel (also ran via the Leaf Chronicle and the Commercial Appeal), IFL Science, Science News, Oak Ridger, Compass, London Evening Standard and Ars Technica. May 30
U.S. Retakes Top Spot in Supercomputer Race
(New York Times) The United States has regained a coveted speed crown in computing with a powerful new supercomputer in Tennessee, a milestone for the technology that plays a major role in science, medicine and other fields. May 30
Has the Techstars startup accelerator impacted Knoxville's economy as investors hoped?
(News Sentinel) Florida-based FLUIX will manufacture its products in East Tennessee, and Colorado-based Silvis will set up a lab here to work closely with Oak Ridge National Laboratory. May 25
Satoshi Matsuoka on the TOP500, Fugaku and Arm, Quantum and Winning Japan’s Purple Ribbon Medal of Honor
(InsideHPC podcast) Prof. Satoshi Matsuoka, director of the RIKEN Center for Computational Science (R-CCS) and professor of computer science at Tokyo Institute of Technology, joined the @HPCpodcast for a far ranging discussion of supercomputing. Matsuoka discussed Frontier and the TOP500 list. May 25
R&D 100 winner of the day: Autonomous Self-Healing Sealant
(R&D World) ORNL’s autonomous self-healing sealants self-repair microcracks and cuts, recover mechanical properties and adhere well to dusty surfaces. May 25
Moving toward next-generation wind blade recycling
(Composites World) Also working on both recycling solutions and new end-use products is the Sustainable Manufacturing Technologies Group at ORNL, led by Soydan Ozcan, senior R&D scientist. The researchers’ ongoing work includes researching and optimizing mechanical and pyrolysis recycling methods, as well as developing new uses for the reclaimed materials. May 25
Designing the ultimate outdoor space with western red cedar
(GB&D Magazine) Wood has very good insulating value compared to other materials. Lab tests at the National Research Council of Canada and ORNL show that light metal framing significantly reduces the effective thermal resistance, or R-value, of a wall assembly, resulting in increased energy use. May 25
55 Ways To Trim Your Living Expenses Right Now
(GOBankingRates) If you already own a car, treat it with care to reduce your spending on gas. According to Oak Ridge National Laboratory, aggressive driving — such as repeated braking and bursts of speed — can cost you up to $1 per gallon. The story also ran on Yahoo! Finance. May 25
Asset Disposition Services Get Rid of Devices So Agencies Don’t Have To
(FedTech) ORNL arranged for vendors to remove a retired supercomputer; other agencies provide recycling services. May 24
NGA opens access to human geography population data
(Intelligence Community News) The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, in partnership with ORNL, is offering its LandScan Global and LandScan High-Definition data sets free without restrictions to the public for the first time since their initial publication in 1999. CleanTechnica also ran a story. May 24
8 Things You Can Do to Increase Fuel Efficiency and Save Money on Gas
(Real Simple) FuelEconomy.Gov reports that a car that fails an emissions test or is "out of tune" can cause a 4 percent drop in fuel efficiency. Additionally, a study conducted by ORNL observed that a faulty oxygen sensor reduced fuel economy by over 40 percent in the vehicles it tested. May 23
ORNL licenses electrolyte and thin-film coating tech to BTRY
(Charged EVs) ORNL has licensed some electrolyte and thin-film coating technologies it developed to battery technology company BTRY, which plans to use them to manufacture lithium-ion batteries. May 23
4 ways to assure homeowners that metal roofs are a good investment
(Roofers Coffee Shop) Studies conducted by ORNL show that energy-efficient metal roofing can save homeowners up to 40 percent on cooling costs compared to asphalt shingles. ENERGY STAR-certified metal roofs can reflect the sun’s energy back into the atmosphere, resulting in a cooler home that is much more energy efficient. May 23
TVA execs outline initiatives to reach net zero by 2050
(Teknovation) Calling out ORNL, Amy Henry highlighted the fact that it is DOE's largest science and energy lab, and TVA is the nation’s largest public power provider and third largest generator of electricity in the nation. “We’re committed to working collaboratively with the lab to advance these initiatives,” she said. May 22
Decarbonizing diesel trucks may be next step in clean energy goals
(The Oklahoman editorial) According to the ORNL Transportation Energy Book, medium-duty and heavy-duty fleets make up almost 80% of total diesel consumption for transportation in the U.S. Of that, medium-duty fleets account for about 11% of emissions generated from the transportation sector. The story also ran on MSN Money. May 20
The Voyager 1 space probe appears to be confused about its location
(Engadget) The nearly 45-year-old probe is otherwise in good shape — its signal is still strong and the glitch hasn’t triggered its safe mode. ... DOE re-started domestic plutonium-238 production at ORNL, making a number of current and future NASA missions possible —including NASA’s Perseverance Rover. The story also ran on Yahoo! News. May 19
Why Do You Need Robots in Quality Control?
(Power Electronics Now) Robots can also support quality control by vastly improving the still largely inefficient process of battery disassembly. Researchers at ORNL developed a robotic system that protects people from the numerous hazards of this task, including toxic chemicals. May 19
Additive Talks: How has AM advanced in the nuclear industry? Opportunities & Challenges
(3D Adept Media) Benjamin Betzler, a senior R&D staff member at ORNL and group leader of the Research and Test Reactor Physics Group, spoke to 3D ADEPT Media’s Managing Editor Kety Sindze and co-host Iwan Grecht. May 17
ECP Director Doug Kothe named ORNL associate laboratory director
(HPCwire) ORNL has selected Doug Kothe to be the next Associate Laboratory Director for its Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate. Kothe will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Jeff Nichols, whose last day is July 1. Inside HPC also reported the news. May 16
Entire rare earth metals family could help address acid gas pollution
(Mining.com) Using a REE foundation, researchers at the ORNL, the Sandia National Laboratory and UT Knoxville have set up to find metal-organic frameworks, that can effectively detect and trap acid gases. May 16
In Power Generation, the Changes From 3D Printing Will Be System-Wide
(Additive Manufacturing) At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, additive manufacturing machines supplied by GE Additive were used to make hundreds of turbine blades used in testing of 3D printed blades conducted by Solar Turbines. May 16
Perfect pitch – closing the loop on carbon fibre production
(Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining) A US university collaboration has developed carbon fibres from petroleum pitch – a by-product of oil refining. The four-year research project at MIT and ORNL also tested coal pitch from coking coal in steel production. May 16
What makes a computer 'super?'
(Dataconomy) IBM supercomputers Summit and Sierra take second and third place, reaching 148.8 and 94.6 petaflops, respectively. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a US Department of Energy facility in Tennessee, is home to Summit. May 13
US manufacturer invests in two ViLS for EV and AV development
(Autonomous Vehicle International) As a multiprogram science and technology national laboratory sponsored by DOE, ORNL maintains a Toyo-supplied ViLS in DOE’s National Transportation Research Center at ORNL to support such endeavors. Green Car Congress also ran the story. May 13
Official climate reports pile up. But do they connect with the public?
(Christian Science Monitor) “It’s taking this mass of knowledge, taking all the experts involved, saying ... ‘This is what we know; this is what policymakers need to know,’” says David McCollum, senior scientist at ORNL and an IPCC author. The story also ran on Yahoo! News. May 10
Self-Driving Microscopes Could Lead to Material Innovations
(Technology Networks) Researchers at ORNL are teaching microscopes to drive discoveries with an intuitive algorithm, developed at the lab’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, that could guide breakthroughs in new materials for energy technologies, sensing and computing. AZO Materials and Wiley Analytical Science also reported the story. May 10
New data on uranium’s behaviour revealed by fastest supercomputer in the US
(Mining.com) An important but little-studied uranium compound could be key to a cleaner, safer world, according to new research emerging from the ORNL, the Savannah River National Laboratory and the Colorado School of Mines. May 10
Rare Isotopes for the Choosing
(Physics) FRIB will offer unprecedented capabilities to mimic astrophysical scenarios by making most of the isotopes that may be present in a stellar environment and by accelerating them to relevant energies, says nuclear astrophysicist Kelly Chipps from ORNL. The Lansing State Journal also reported on the FRIB launch. May 9
How to Get Better Gas Mileage: 9 Simple Ways to Save
(Reader's Digest) Speeding and slamming on the brakes—hallmarks of aggressive driving—waste gas big time. Researchers at the government’s ORNL found that aggressive driving reduces gas mileage in stop-and-go traffic by up to 40 percent. May 9
How Large-Format 3D Printing Supports Micro-Scale Hydropower
(Additive Manufacturing) After seeing BAAM in action during a site visit to ORNL, Cadens teamed up with Lonnie Love and others at the DOE lab to apply the large-format 3D printing technology to building physical systems based on guidance from the turbine design software. May 9
Tiny traps for toxic gases
(Envirotec) Metal organic frameworks could take acid-gas sequestration to the next level, and offer a practical approach to improving air quality, says a group from ORNL, which is tuning these devices to trap gases like NO2 and SO2. May 9
Supercomputer gets down to uranium vibes
(Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining) A study by researchers from ORNL, Savannah River National Laboratory and the Colorado School of Mines used simulations conducted on ORNL’s Summit supercomputer and neutron spectroscopy experiments conducted at the Spallation Neutron Source to identify key spectral features of uranium tetrafluoride hydrate. HPCwire also reported the story. May 8
Novel Carbon-Negative Route for Producing the Commodity Chemicals
(AZO Cleantech) Scientists from ORNL, LanzaTech Inc., Northwestern University, and the UT utilized an interdisciplinary method to improve strains of the bacterium Clostridium autoethanogenum to improve the production of isopropanol and acetone from waste gases. May 8
Biden Administration bets big on AM Forward program
(3D Printing Media Network) To support AM Forward, the Department of Energy will make its Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory available to SME manufacturers to test new additive techniques. May 6
Biden Administration Celebrates Launch of AM Forward and Calls on Congress to Pass Bipartisan Innovation Act
(Additive Manufacturing) To support AM Forward, DOE will make its Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL available to SME manufacturers to test new additive techniques. The Additive Report also shared the news. May 6
Discovering effective drugs, vaccines by supercomputer
(Oak Ridger) Supercomputers, like Summit and Frontier at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, are expensive. But so are tests of new therapeutic drugs and vaccines on people in clinical trials. May 5
Groundbreaking Knoxville researcher wins A.M. Turing award, 'Nobel Prize' of computer science
(News Sentinel) Jack Dongarra has held a joint appointment at the UT and ORNL since 1989. While he doesn't have a household name, his foundational work in computer science has undergirded the development of high-performance computers over the course of his 40-year career. May 4
TVA, ORNL creating new way for people to control their homes
(WATE) TVA and ORNL are looking to change the way East Tennesseans control their homes. On Wednesday, a tour was given of ORNL’s Yarnell house to show what they have been working on. May 4
Californium - Periodic Table of Videos
(Periodic Table of Videos) An extensive video about Californium, which reportedly costs up to $27m per gram. We go to where it's made in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. This video features Professor Martyn Poliakoff at the University of Nottingham and Julie Ezold at ORNL. May 4
The high cost of cobalt cathodes and some potential alternatives
(Charged Electric Vehicles Magazine) According to an article published in Advanced Energy Materials by researchers at ORNL, cobalt is currently the most expensive cathode material used in lithium-ion batteries. May 4
$80M in state funds allocated to Oak Ridge institute
(Oak Ridger) Tennessee Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, and state Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, this week announced the appropriation of $72 million in the newly adopted state budget for the University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute in Oak Ridge. May 4
ORNL’s Chi elected fellow of the Microscopy Society of America
(Bioengineer) Miaofang Chi, an ORNL scientist, has been elected a fellow of the Microscopy Society of America, or MSA. Chi is one of three fellows elected to the 2022 class. May 4
DOE lab develops satellite-supercomputer link system
(ExecutiveGov) ORNL has built a satellite terminal designed to collect and connect satellite data to a high-performance computing facility. ORNL aims to finish the installation of the supercomputer-powered ground station this summer to support the transmission of imagery for automated detection of changes on the Earth’s surface. May 3
COVID — Changing behavior
(Compass newsletter) It wasn’t your imagination — weekdays became more like weekend days during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using cell-phone mobility data, ORNL researchers found that people in the United States changed their daily travel habits in response to COVID-19 restrictions. May 3
Quantum computing promises to solve data center energy drain
(Venture Beat) Quantum computers will be vastly more energy-efficient than supercomputers in certain computational problems. Published research by a team of experts from NASA’s Ames Research Center, Google, and ORNL has demonstrated this benefit. May 2
R&D 100 of the day: Autonomous Self-Healing Sealant
(R&D World) ORNL’s autonomous self-healing sealants self-repair microcracks and cuts, recover mechanical properties and adhere well to dusty surfaces. They are formulated by mixing a low-cost additive into commercial sealants according to a process developed at ORNL. May 2
Company opens; hopes to hire 20 people for new Oak Ridge office
(Oak Ridger) Burns & McDonnell — with an office in Chattanooga — recognized the need for an Oak Ridge office as several new critical infrastructure projects were awarded to the firm within the area, including the Second Target Station project at ORNL. May 2
AM will change power generation, but needs to prove itself first
(Additive Manufacturing) In gas turbines and in nuclear power, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is working with major manufacturers to validate metal 3D printing for conventional parts as a prelude to developing the unconventional ones. May 2
New report examines the U.S. hydropower permitting process
(CleanTechnica) A report titled An Examination of the Hydropower Licensing and Federal Authorization Process, authored by a team from NREL and ORNL, examines the factors that have the greatest impact on the hydropower licensing process. May 1
Perceptron: AI mixes concrete, designs molecules, and thinks with space lasers
(TechCrunch) Researchers at ORNL are getting in on the AI formulation fun. Using a dataset of quantum chemistry calculations, whatever those are, the team created a neural network that could predict material properties — but then inverted it so that they could input properties and have it suggest materials. April 30
Researchers develop novel technique to identify relationships among medical concepts
(News Medical Life Sciences) A team of researchers from the Department of Veterans Affairs, ORNL, Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital has developed a novel, machine learning–based technique to explore and identify relationships among medical concepts using electronic health record data across multiple healthcare providers. April 28
Details of “Demo Day” for “Techstars Industries of the Future Accelerator” announced
(Teknovation) In a little less than a month, the 10 start-ups participating in the inaugural “Techstars Industries of the Future Accelerator” will pitch their companies at a “Demo Day.” The event will begin at 5 p.m. EDT May 26 in the Student Union on the UT Knoxville campus, and the public is invited. April 28
Gas mileage & tire pressure: What you can do to save money at the pump | Expert interview with Shean Huff
(WBIR) WBIR featured an interview with ORNL’s Shean Huff for VERIFY. The video conversation covered tips for vehicle safety and savings on gas prices and fuel efficiency. April 27
IT Lab Partners LLC is a collaboration among several firms to provide IT support for ORNL
(Teknovation) Earlier this month, ORNL publicly announced the winners, and a joint venture named IT Lab Partners LLC was selected for the information technology BOA. ITLP, as the company is known, is comprised of XCEL Engineering, Information Technology Resources, and Cadre5. April 27
Michigan State's FRIB opens Monday. What does it actually do?
(Lansing State Journal) Kelly Chipps is an experimental nuclear astrophysicist and researcher at ORNL. Her research at FRIB centers on the types of nuclear reactions that power stars and stellar explosions. April 27
Bringing big science to address the climate challenge
(Homeland Security News Wire) Tackling the climate crisis and achieving an equitable clean energy future are among the biggest challenges of our time. ORNL is deeply invested in the big science capabilities and expertise needed to address the climate challenge on multiple fronts. April 27
UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute will help make Tennessee a national leader in STEM | Opinion
(News Sentinel) Tennessee is becoming a hub for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) talent and discovery. An integral component of that goal is the University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute (UT-ORII) in Oak Ridge. April 26
Video: Aquatic drone measures water quality in streams, rivers
(Engineering 360) An aquatic drone from ORNL is being used to measure water quality along rivers and streams to determine where pollutants like excess fertilizer are entering waterways. April 26
Changes afoot at Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, Exascale Computing Project
(Inside HPC) Change is afoot at the Exascale Computing Project and at OLCF. Jeff Nichols, associate laboratory director of ORNL with oversight over NCCS, is retiring. Osni Marques, staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will lead ECP’s Training & Productivity effort, taking over for Ashley Barker. April 26
New GE facility focuses on R&D of 3D printed wind turbine towers
(3D Printing Industry) In February last year, GE Renewable Energy was awarded a $6.7 million project by DOE to explore the design and manufacture of 3D printed wind turbine blades, working alongside ORNL and NREL. April 25
Affordable housing and decarbonization are no longer mutually exclusive
(Wealth Management) On the retrofit front, ORNL and the Knoxville Community Development Corporation are using 3D printing to create new exteriors for public housing units. 3D printing enables major cost-savings. April 25
ORNL invests in big science to address the climate challenge on multiple fronts
(AZO CleanTech) Tackling the climate crisis and achieving an equitable clean energy future are among the biggest challenges of our time. ORNL, the largest DOE science and energy laboratory in the country, is deeply invested in the big science capabilities and expertise needed to address the climate challenge on multiple fronts. April 22
Rooting out whether soil will store or release carbon during warming
(Oak Ridger) “Soil holds twice as much carbon as the atmosphere,” said Colleen Iversen, distinguished staff scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in a recent virtual talk to Friends of ORNL. April 21
How an experimental Minnesota forest is helping predict what could happen in different climate change scenarios
(CBS News) David Weston, a senior scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, along with more than 100 other researchers, comes to the forest to study how different degrees of global warming might impact the world's northern forests. April 20
Traffic-based analyses of buildings advance smart city capabilities
(STEM Magazine page 7) To determine how daily mobility patterns affect energy usage, researchers at ORNL partnered with the Smart City Division within the City of Chattanooga’s Department of Information Technology.
ORNL's Dongarra to receive 'Nobel prize of computing'
(Oak Ridger) Jack Dongarra, UT distinguished professor of computer science and distinguished research staff member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will receive the 2021 A.M. Turing Award from the Association of Computing Machinery. April 20
Knoxville startup named finalist for Elon Musk's $100M carbon removal tech prize
(News Sentinel) "We're really a Tennessee homegrown company," said Anna Douglas, SkyNano CEO and co-founder. "The technology was born at Vanderbilt, incubated at Oak Ridge National Lab and it's flourishing in the Knoxville region. It's a moment of pride to be able to represent Tennessee." The story was also reported by the Oak Ridger and Teknovation. April 19
Battery startup licenses ORNL electrolyte and thin-film coating technologies
(Green Car Congress) Several ORNL electrolyte and thin-film coating technologies have been licensed by BTRY, a battery technology company, to make batteries with increased energy density, at lower cost, and with an improved safety profile in crashes. Battery Industry and Teknovation also reported the news. April 19
ORNL Researchers Investigate the Effects of Manganese on Soil Carbon and Climate
(AZO CleanTech) At the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, biogeochemist Elizabeth Herndon is working with colleagues to investigate a piece of the puzzle that has received little attention thus far: the role of manganese in the carbon cycle. April 19
Game-Changing Rare-Earth Elements Separation Technology Licensed to Marshallton
(Magnetics) Developed by scientists from ORNL and INL in DOE's Critical Materials Institute, or CMI, the technology provides insight into how to cost-effectively separate in-demand rare-earth elements, which could dramatically shift the industry to benefit producers in the United States. April 18
Hydropower supply chain deep dive assessment: Report
(Techstreet Now) A new Department of Energy report produced by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) identifies several supply chain must-haves in maintaining the pivotal role hydropower will play in decarbonizing the nation's grid. April 18
Targeted radioactive drugs raise hopes for treating cancer
(C&E News) Some of the producers of radioactive isotopes include Canada’s particle accelerator center, Triumf; the nuclear innovation company TerraPower, founded by Bill Gates; and an initiative from Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US. April 18
ORNL scientist to speak on plant root responses to climate change
(Oak Ridger) Colleen Iversen, distinguished staff scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will deliver a virtual talk in honor of Earth Day to Friends of ORNL at noon Tuesday, April 19. April 17
Top US Supercomputer Supports Mental Health Research
(HPCwire) “We are working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory … to develop the first decision support tool capable of analyzing all of the many significant factors that can set a child on a course toward becoming an adult with severe anxiety, depression or suicidal ideation.” April 16
ORNL computational study finds 15% bio-oil mixture in two-stroke marine engines can cut NOx 13% with efficiency parity
(Green Car Congress) A team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has developed a new computational model of a two-stroke scaled marine engine, with reduced chemical mechanisms for diesel, biodiesel, bio-oil, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). April 15
UT professor named Turing Award recipient
(WBIR) Jack Dongarra was named a recipient of the Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery. April 14
3D Printed Brackets Secure Fuel for Nuclear Power: The Cool Parts Show #45
(Additive Manufacturing) A nuclear reactor is essentially a large-scale heat exchanger, a point Ryan Dehoff of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility notes in this latest episode of The Cool Parts Show. April 14
Discovery could reduce production costs
(Agri-View) A genetic pathway to encourage a type of lignin formation in plants could make processing of crops for biofuels easier and less costly. Researchers at the ORNL focused on C-lignin, a polymer in the seed coats of certain exotic plants. April 13
Lithium ion batteries going cobalt-free; nickel next on the chopping block
(UPI) Sparkz, which expects to break ground on a new lithium ion battery production facility, or gigafactory, and deliver batteries to its first customers by the end of 2022, is the proud owner of six patents transferred from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. April 13
Robots Combine for Faster DED Build Rate (Video)
(Modern Machine Shop) The Medusa system developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility combines three robots performing directed energy deposition (DED) metal additive manufacturing via Lincoln Electric Additive Solutions’ wire arc additive manufacturing process. April 12
Hybrid approach for cellulosic biofuel production shows promise
(Ethanol Producer Magazine) Researchers collaborating through the Center for Bioenergy Innovation make the case that scientific advances support a hybrid approach using biological and catalytic methods for producing cellulosic biofuel for use in airplanes, ships and long-haul trucks. Biomass Magazine also ran the story. April 11
Government Deep Tech 2022 Top Funding Focus Explainable AI, Photonics, Quantum
(Forbes) DARPA, In-Q-Tel, US National Laboratories (examples: Argonne, Oak Ridge) are famous government funding agencies for deep tech on the forward boundaries, the near impossible, that have globally transformative solutions. The story also ran on Tech Register. April 11
DOE Announces $1 million in Funding for Radioisotope Research
(SNMMI Value Initiative) Topics funded seek to address key challenges associated with the advancement of therapeutic radioisotopes. Awardees include Nikki Thiele, ORNL, for establishing the chelation chemistry of antimony-119 for targeted Auger therapy. Read the funding announcement from DOE. April 11
Top 10 Countries in Asia Competing Against US in Supercomputer Making
(Industry Wired) Recently among the Top 10 supercomputers, two teams working on Summit won the prestigious Gordon Bell Prize for outstanding achievement in high-performance computing, commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize of supercomputing. April 11
Labor shortages, skills and training: Employers and orgs sound off
(Oak Ridger) "We are currently hiring in all areas of the organization in areas such as administrative support, engineering, IT, nuclear science, and cybersecurity, just to name a few," Morgan McCorkle, media relations manager at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. April 11
Across the Boreal Forest, Scientists Are Tracking Warming’s Toll
(Inside Climate News) The SPRUCE experiment — a collaboration between the U.S. Forest Service and ORNL — features 10 open-top glass chambers. Each is 30 feet high, 40 feet in diameter, and designed — by controlling temperature and CO2 levels — to mimic what will happen to boreal peatlands under various global warming scenarios. April 11
Video Friday: DALL-E 2 Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos
(IEEE Spectrum) Measuring water quality throughout river networks with precision, speed and at lower cost than traditional methods is now possible with AquaBOT, an aquatic drone developed by ORNL. April 8
Keeping energy inside: Grant to install 3-D printed walls at Knoxville’s oldest public housing complex
(Hellbender Press) Scientists at ORNL will partner with Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation to retrofit eight to 12 buildings at Western Heights using 3-D printed exterior “overclad” panels equipped with heat pumps and heat recovery systems. April 7
Ask Asa: More ways to save money on gas
(WJCL) If it rolls on four wheels, Oak Ridge researchers like Stacy Davis can tell you what it costs to operate. Davis says people should match their vehicles with their transportation needs to save money. April 7
How to Make Home Insulation From Recycled Clothing
(eHow) To determine what the sufficient R-value is for your insulation needs, review ORNL's Insulation Fact Sheet. The calculator within the fact sheet is based on new or existing construction, type of heating unit and your ZIP code. April 7
'Global EV Battery Innovations Conference' casts spotlight on Tennessee activities
(Teknovation) Initially incubated in the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL, Sanjiv Malhotra noted that much of the “world came to a standstill” soon after SPARKZ executed a license with the lab in February 2020. April 7
4 Small Businesses Win $100M in DOE Lab Support Contracts
(GovConWire) Four small businesses have won two-year, basic ordering agreements worth $100 million combined to provide a range of contingent support services to the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. April 6
High-tech energy retrofits coming to Western Heights neighborhood renovation project
(News Sentinel) ORNL and the Knoxville Community Development Corporation will work together to retrofit the exteriors of roughly a dozen single-family public housing units to cut home heating energy costs. But the project is wildly different from a typical home improvement upgrade. April 6
ORNL and collaborators confirm antiviral material's effectiveness for COVID-19 mask use
(FLC News) ORNL researchers and collaborators from Iowa State University and industrial forensics company RJ Lee Group have demonstrated a safe and effective antiviral coating for N95 masks that destroys the COVID-19-causing coronavirus and could enable reuse of masks made from various fabrics. April 5
Environment — Clean Water Bots
(CleanTechnica) Measuring water quality throughout river networks with precision, speed and at lower cost than traditional methods is now possible with AquaBOT, an aquatic drone developed by ORNL. Hackster and WaterWorld also shared the story. April 5
Oak Ridge Seeks Potential Commercial Licensors of Wireless Drone Charging Tech
(ExecutiveGov) ORNL is planning to commercialize its wireless charging invention aimed at increasing the flight time of unmanned aircraft vehicles. April 5
SAE WCX 2022: Internal-combustion’s life extension
(SAE International) “The continued development of ICEs must support de-carbonization,” asserted Jim Szybist, senior research staff scientist at ORNL, who kicked off the 2022 Sustainable Low-Impact Combustion Engine Symposium. April 5
Suddenly, Heat Pump Clothes Dryers Are Having A Moment
(CleanTechnica) In 2014, DOE partnered its ORNL with GE Appliances for a $1,000,000 cost-shared project aimed at developing a heat pump clothes dryer for home use. April 4
Oak Ridge National Lab turns pollution into fuel, plastics and ... high-end clothes?
(News Sentinel) What if you could capture pollution off a smokestack and turn it into a polyester dress, jet fuel or high-end running shoes? That's something that Oak Ridge National Lab scientists have been working on and it's already hitting stores. The Oak Ridger also ran the story. April 3
Scientific successes of the Summit supercomputer
(Oak Ridger) COVID-19. Exploding stars. Jet engines. Diamonds and fusion energy. These and other scientific challenges are being addressed by users of Summit, the nation’s most powerful supercomputer, which is located at ORNL. MSN republished the story. April 3
Selective separation of individual rare-earth elements using DGA-based ligands
(Chemical Engineering) A process featuring new diglycolamide-based ligands and liquid-liquid extraction exhibits more effective separation of individual REEs, and will allow lower-cost processing of REE-containing ores. The process was developed by ORNL and INL through DOE's Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub. April 1
It’s about time for the electrical grid
(GPS World) The Center for Alternative Synchronization and Timing is located at and led by ORNL and has been underway for almost two years. More than just an academic center for research, CAST is building a network of atomic master clocks and methods of time delivery by fiber that will ensure power grids always have failsafe and resilient time. April 1
Is There an Optimal Driving Speed that Saves Gas—and Money?
(Wired) Fortunately, some people tested a bunch of cars and created at least an approximate way to estimate fuel efficiency: It’s a 2013 paper from Oak Ridge National Laboratory that produces multiple speed-efficiency models. April 1
Big Tech is robbing talent from government labs. This Turing winner doesn’t like it.
(Protocol) Turing Award winner Jack Dongarra’s new “Nobel Prize of computing” trophy for his supercomputing work comes with a cool $1 million courtesy of Google. But Dongarra would rather the company and its Big Tech brethren quit drafting talent from his lab system. Forbes ran a story about Dongarra's career and his Turing Award recognition. April 1
Marie Kurz: Helping science on watersheds flow across disciplines
(Hellbender Press) Spanning no less than three disciplines, Marie Kurz’s title — hydrogeochemist — already gives you a sense of the collaborative, interdisciplinary nature of her research at ORNL. Still, those six syllables only hint at the vast web of relationships encompassed in her work. April 1
Study Sheds new Light on Promising Photvoltaic Material
(Printed Electronics World) A study by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory takes a fresh look at what could become the first step toward a new generation of solar batteries. Advanced Batteries and Energy Storage Research also reported on the study. April 1
Cooperative effort secures plutonium removal
(World Nuclear News) Technical experts from ORNL and Savannah River National Laboratory worked with a team from the IAEA for several years to complete the activities required for the safe and secure transportation of the material to the USA. April 1
Prototype spacecraft power system for deep space secures $600k NASA grant
(Aerospace) Leading the APPLE project is Aerospace in conjunction with teams from ORNL and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. NASA JPL joined the team for Phase II and ORNL completed the radiation testing for the project during Phase I. March 31
New Oak Ridge supercomputer outperforms the old in a fraction of the space
(Network World) Crusher is a Mini Me version of Frontier, an exascale supercomputer due to be deployed this year or next. Both computers are based on the same hardware, but Crusher much smaller and serves as a testbed for applications that will eventually run on Frontier. March 31
Supercomputing vet named Turing Award winner
(Axios) This year's Turing Award, often dubbed the Nobel Prize of the computing industry, is going to Jack Dongarra, a pioneer in the field of supercomputers. Forbes, CNET, ZDNet, Protocol, Fortune, HPCwire, Inside HPC, and Compass also covered the news. March 30
Turing Award Won by Programmer Who Paved Way for Supercomputers
(New York Times) Dongarra, now a professor at the University of Tennessee and a researcher at nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was a young researcher in Chicago when he specialized in linear algebra, a form of mathematics that underpins many of the most ambitious tasks in computer science.
Utility-scale batteries? VPP programs? Both? How states are valuing energy storage
(Solar Builder) “In Hawaii, organizations have moved from trying to protect a utility from rooftop PV to trying to take advantage of it — it’s been a sea change,” says Larry Markel, a technical researcher at ORNL. March 30
Phenomenal News From ClimateTech Unicorn, LanzaTech
(Forbes) In a paper published by Nature Biotechnology, LanzaTech scientists and colleagues from Northwestern University, ORNL, and DOE's Joint Genome Institute announced they had succeeded in engineering two new strains of C. auto that would create two additional industrial platform chemicals – acetone and isopropanol. March 30
Yo-STEM program encourages underserved students in East TN to pursue STEM careers
(WBIR) Candice Halbert, a chemist who works at ORNL, is currently working on her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Tennessee and spends her free time mentoring young students who want to work in science, technology, engineering and math through her non-profit, Yo-STEM. March 29
Early Frontier supercomputer tests show decent performance leaps
(Next Platform) Oak Ridge said in a statement, when talking about benchmarks run on the “Crusher” testbed system that is based on the same exact hardware and software used in Frontier, that the “promising performance on Crusher points toward success on the full Frontier system, which will be operational in the second half of 2022." Similar coverage ran in Electronic Design, Computing, ZDNet, and The Register. March 28
HPCwire Unveils 2022 People to Watch
(HPCwire) The 2022 HPCwire People to Watch selections include Bronson Messer, Distinguished Scientist and director of science at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at ORNL. March 28
Ask Asa: How to save money on gas
(WJCL) If you want to get better gas mileage, you can talk to car dealers, mechanics, gas station owners. You can also talk to Stacy Davis, an ORNL researcher. DOE entrusts this Tennessee-based lab to supply up-to-the-minute research on all forms of energy. March 24
U.S. DOE Scientists Create New High Heat Resistant Adhesive From Household Plastics
(Adhesives) A study at ORNL has resulted in a new, very tough, and highly heat resistant adhesive, created by using dynamic crosslinking to adapt the chemical structure of household plastics commonly used in toothbrushes, mouth guards used for sports, and handlebar grips. March 24
Public Housing to Receive Efficiency Upgrades as Part of Energy Department Experiment
(Scientific American/E&E News) DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy will attempt to create construction and renovation practices this year by focusing on public housing in seven cities, beginning with Knoxville, Tenn. Compass also covered the news. March 23
Smithsonian exhibit honors Fayetteville native
(Elk Valley Times) Amy Elliott, a Fayetteville native, is one of the women featured in the exhibit IfThenSheCan on display in the Smithsonian Castle. The statues honor women in STEM fields who are shaping a better world. 3DPrint.com also ran a story about the statues and mentioned Elliott. March 23
Salt Marsh Grass on Georgia’s Coast Gets Nutrients for Growth from Helpful Bacteria
(ECO) The new study's research in salty wetlands is similar to climate-related work Joel Kostka leads on peat mosses in freshwater bogs at the Spruce and Peatland Responses Under Changing Environments research facility in northern Minnesota. The facility is managed by the USDA's Forest Service and ORNL. March 23
ORAU welcomes new board members, six new universities
(Oak Ridger) Alan S. Icenhour, ORNL deputy director for operations, has been elected as an at-large member of the ORAU board of directors. March 22
Nvidia speeds AI, climate modeling
(CIO) Nvidia has developed a compiler for this language, nvq++, that will first be used by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and an SDK for accelerating quantum workflows, cuQuantum, which is available as a container optimized to run on its A100 GPU. March 22
Wildfires will pose great socioeconomic risk in future, say researchers
(The Guardian) The researchers, from universities including Peking University, Beijing and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US, hope their study can be used to show regional disparities in wildfire exposure to help prepare for fires in those areas. March 22
10 Ways to Save On Gas
(Government Fleet) Analysis by ORNL revealed aggressive driving behaviors like speeding and rapid acceleration and braking can lower fuel economy by up to 30% at highway speeds and up to 40% in stop-and-go traffic. March 22
The Car of the Future May Be Built From Crude Oil Leftovers
(Daily Beast) These new chemical combinations were recreated in the real world by scientists at ORNL and used to produce tangible carbon fibers that could bear the sort of weight and compressive force most other carbon fibers are notable for. The story also ran on MSN and Yahoo! News. March 21
Can 3D printing debottleneck prototype tool production?
(Composites World) A study conducted jointly by ORNL and IACMI attempted to 3D print developmental tooling to compression mold sheet molding compound using high-temperature carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastics on a large-format additive manufacturing system at ORNL. March 21
3D printer updates from ORNL
(3D Printing Industry) ORNL has installed an ElemX metal 3D printer from US printer and photocopier manufacturer Xerox. Installed at the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, the printer will enable ORNL and Xerox to cooperate on advancing the latter’s liquid metal additive manufacturing technology for high-volume applications in sectors such as automotive. March 21
Participants in “Techstars Industries of the Future Accelerator” introduced at event
(Teknovation) “We did it because we were here in Knoxville,” he explained, noting three key factors that make this a great place to start and grow a company: great partners like UT, Tennessee Valley Authority, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory; a great place to live; and an abundance of people who want to help. March 20
Conferences, awards, ribbon cuttings and pitch events highlight our “News & Notes”
(Teknovation) Oak Ridge National Laboratory received $5 million to demonstrate the use of 3D-printed modular overclad panels with heat pump systems in eight to 12 single-family attached public housing homes and one commercial building in Knoxville. March 20
Women – yes, we can. And we will.
(Chattanooga Times Free Press opinion) At ORNL, manufacturing scientist Amy Elliott is among 120 women featured in a new Smithsonian exhibit titled "IfThenSheCan." The exhibit, on display through March 27 at the Smithsonian Castle in Washington, D.C., features women who have excelled in STEM fields. The article was republished on Yahoo! News. March 19
Chiplets Enter The Supercomputer Race
(Semiconductor Engineering) Later this year, the U.S. is expected to deploy its first exascale supercomputer, a 1.5 Eflop/s or faster system called Frontier. Based on AMD’s server processors and GPU accelerators, Frontier is located at ORNL. March 17
Wide-Bandgap Materials Address EV Power and Efficiency Requirements
(Power Electronics Now) “We are still focused on pure EVs and looking at electric vehicles going beyond the 200-mile range, with 60-kWh or higher energy storage,” ORNL's Burak Ozpineci said. “We are currently looking at ways of integrating the motors and power electronics inside the chassis.” March 16
IARPA Project Aims to Identify People from Drones by More Than Just Their Face
(Nextgov) Officials from DOE's ORNL, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command will provide testing and evaluation for this work. Intelligence Community News and Homeland Preparedness News also shared the news. March 16
How a breakthrough in geothermal could change our energy grid
(Grist) After a decade of research, Paul Woskov is now working with a geothermal company called Quaise to test millimeter waves for geothermal drilling. They’re doing tests at ORNL— essentially, melting holes in rocks. March 16
Paddlewheel-like molecules push sodium ions through next-generation battery
(Physics World) Led by Olivier Delaire, the Duke researchers used neutron scattering experiments at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to study one possible electrolyte, sodium thiophosphate. March 16
Scientists discover genetic pathway for better biofuel processing
(Ethanol Producer Magazine) A team of researchers working within the Center for Bioenergy Innovation at ORNL has discovered a pathway to encourage a type of lignin formation in plants that could make the processing of crops grown for products such as sustainable jet fuels easier and less costly. Biomass Magazine also reported the news. March 16
3D printed statue of Tennessee scientist on display in DC
(Associated Press) Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Amy Elliott is one of 120 women featured in the exhibit IfThenSheCan on display in the Smithsonian Castle through March 27. WBIR also covered the story. March 15
USA pilots next-generation building upgrades
(Construction Index) ORNL will demonstrate 3D-printed modular overclad panels with heat pump systems in 8 to 12 single-family attached public housing homes and one commercial building in Knoxville, Tennessee. Daily Energy Insider also covered the news. March 15
People and Honors: Major career moves happening at PYA, Tranzonic and The Stokely Company
(News Sentinel) This Business Journal briefs package includes news of ORNL personnel including new posts for Susan Hubbard and Moe Khaleel and honors for Miaofang Chi, Shaun Gleason, Mark Lumsden and Mircea Podar. March 13
Researchers find genetic pathway for improved biofuel processing
(Industry and Energy) Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Center for Bioenergy Innovation (CBI) have discovered a way to encourage the formation of lignin in plants, which could make the processing of crops grown for products such as sustainable jet fuels easier and less expensive. March 11
Yes, properly inflating your car’s tires can help improve your gas mileage
(WBIR-TV) Shean Huff, a staff researcher at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory — the largest multi-program science and energy research lab in the U.S. — explained the science behind why tire pressure affects a car’s fuel economy. March 10
Fermentation turns greenhouse gases into useful chemicals
(Physics World) A carbon-negative process that produces industrial-scale quantities of acetone and isopropanol has been developed by researchers in the US. Their work could lead to the replacement of some emissions-heavy chemical production methods with more flexible and environmentally friendly processes. March 10
ORNL honors small business partners
(Oak Ridger) Four small businesses and one employee were recognized for their exceptional performance in support of ORNL at the lab’s Small Business Awards ceremony held virtually. March 10
LanzaTech Converts Carbon into Ethanol, Acetone/IPA
(CHEManager) LanzaTech researchers, together with their counterparts at Northwestern University and ORNL, have created a new gas fermentation process using C. auto to convert waste gases, such as emissions from heavy industry or syngas generated from a biomass source, into either isopropyl alcohol (IPA) or acetone. March 10
Summit Supercomputer Used to Model Classroom Covid Spread
(HPCwire) As the world’s students return to classrooms, a general unease remains over the dynamics of Covid transmission even as the omicron variant settles into a lull. Researchers used ORNL's Summit, the most powerful supercomputer in the country, to simulate how Covid particles might spread in a classroom. March 10
ORNL scientist featured in Smithsonian exhibit honoring women in STEM
(WBIR) ORNL said Amy Elliott leads the lab's robotics and intelligent systems group and specializes in the inkjet-based 3D printing of metals and ceramics. March 9
Bell State Analyzer Brings Quantum Internet Closer
(Photonics Media) Collaborators from industry and academia — researchers at ORNL, Freedom Photonics, and Purdue University — have made strides toward a fully quantum internet. The collaborators have designed and demonstrated what they report is the first Bell state analyzer for frequency bin coding. March 9
Polymer upcycles to structural adhesive
(Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining) Researchers at the ORNL say the new adhesive can bear heavy loads, endure extreme stress and heat, and reversibly bond to different surfaces, including glass, aluminum and steel. March 9
DOE: cobalt is the most expensive material used in lithium-ion battery cathodes
(Green Car Congress) A team from ORNL recently reviewed the science and technology gaps and potential of numerous cobalt-free Li-ion cathodes including layered, spinel, olivine, and disordered rock-salt systems. March 8
Carmakers Race to Control Next-Generation Battery Technology
(New York Times) Ilias Belharouak, who runs the Oak Ridge Battery Manufacturing Facility, said the goal was to cut battery costs by as much as half, increase their range beyond 300 miles and get charge times down to 15 minutes or less. March 7
Smart City capabilities enhanced with Traffic-based analyses
(Highways Today) Researchers at ORNL partnered with the Smart City Division within the City of Chattanooga’s Department of Information Technology. Benefits from this work could ultimately include more efficient heating and cooling of buildings based on their populations and faster, better informed responses in emergency scenarios. Teknovation also covered this story. March 7
ORNL is working with LanzaTech to develop carbon capture technology using microorganisms
(Compass newsletter) Researchers from LanzaTech, ORNL and Northwestern University built on LanzaTech’s technology to develop the gas fermentation process, part of the company’s “carbon-negative platform,” which aims to help achieve net-zero carbon emissions in the coming decades. March 7
Science and supercomputers at ORNL topic of March 8 talk
(Oak Ridger) Bronson Messer, director of science at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will speak virtually to Friends of ORNL at noon Tuesday, March 8, on “Computational Science at the Dawn of the Exascale Era.” March 7
Simulating the spread of pathogens in a classroom environment
(HVACR Online) A team used the US’s fastest supercomputer, Summit, to model the spread of aerosol viral particles in classrooms. A team led by Rao Kotamarthi at Argonne National Laboratory is using supercomputers at ORNL to study how aerosol viral particles are distributed in a ventilated classroom. March 7
Black women continue to make history across industries
(ABC News) Clarice Phelps is a nuclear chemist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and in 2010 she played a key role in discovering and confirming Tennessine, a new element on the periodic table. But her groundbreaking work isn't done -- she's also part of the international effort to discover elements 119 and 120. March 5
Cincinnati Children's doctors hopeful supercomputer can help decrease mental illness
(WCPO) "We teach the computer [Summit] what it looks like, and that's called the training stage," Dr. John Pestian said. "We get all the data we want and clean it, and then we give it to the computer and say, 'This is what depression looks like.'" March 4
USNC to benefit from Oak Ridge nuclear 3D printing capabilities with new fuel facility
(3D Printing Industry) The Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation has announced plans to locate its pilot fuel manufacturing operations in Oak Ridge in close proximity to ORNL. The News Sentinel also covered this story. March 3
Seattle-based nuclear reactor company to set up new manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge
(WBIR) Since the new manufacturing facility will be located close to Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex, the company said it hopes to hire people in Oak Ridge who are trained in making and handling nuclear fuel. The story was also covered by WATE, 3D Printing Industry, Power Engineering International and World Nuclear News. March 2
Oak Ridge, TVA to partner on decarbonization technologies
(AP) ORNL and TVA announced on Tuesday they have signed a new memorandum of understanding to work together on decarbonization technologies. The story also was covered by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the Oak Ridger, Compass, Teknovation, AZO CleanTech and Energy Central. Yahoo! republished the Oak Ridger's story. March 2
Doctors Using AI, Supercomputer To Predict And Prevent 50% Of Mental Illness
(Forbes) Almost a billion people globally suffer from some form of mental illness. But doctors from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital are using artificial intelligence and Summit, the world’s second most powerful supercomputer, for early diagnosis. March 2
Researchers develop a way to capture furnace emissions
(Techstreet Now) ORNL researchers have developed a novel solution to reduce the environmental impact of natural gas-condensing furnaces commonly used in U.S. homes. March 2
Waste not: Turning pollution into products
(Beauty Matter) LanzaTech, ORNL, and Northwestern University recently revealed a pilot model using fermentation methods and LanzaTech’s Clostridium autoethanogenum bacterium to manufacture inexpensive waste gas feedstocks like synthesis gas and industrial emissions into manufacturing carbon-negative acetone and isopropanol. March 2
5 Things to Know This Morning — Tuesday, March 1, 2022
(Innovation and Tech Today) A team of researchers at LanzaTech, Northwestern University, and ORNL developed the microbe to convert waste carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into acetone and isopropanol. March 1
Powering the renewable energy transition with 3D printing: wind
(3D Printing Industry) Working alongside ORNL and NREL, GE seeks to increase the competitiveness of both onshore and offshore wind energy by leveraging 3D printing to reduce manufacturing costs and improve supply chain flexibility. March 1
Marie Kurz: Helping science on watersheds flow across disciplines
(STEM Magazine pgs. 10-15) Spanning no less than three disciplines, Marie Kurz’s title — hydrogeochemist — already gives you a sense of the collaborative, interdisciplinary nature of her research at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. March 2022 issue
Danielle Castley has launched three core products in the Becqshield line
(Teknovation) Almost halfway through the second year of ORNL “Innovation Crossroads” program, Danielle Castley, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Becq, has been making strides with its radiation shielding materials. Feb. 28
R&D 100 winner of the day: UCC: Ultraconductive Copper-CNT Composite
(R&D World) ORNL's ultraconductive Cu-CNT composite is a new class of high-performance conductors in which carbon nanotubes are incorporated into a copper matrix, demonstrate improved electrical conductivity, higher current-carrying capacity, and improved mechanical properties compared to pure Cu. Feb. 28
Scientists stumble into new discovery
(NNY360) The finding could lead to better treatments for a condition that many struggle to keep in check, the authors reported this month in Science Translational Medicine, collaborating with researchers at Penn Medicine’s dermatology department and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, among other institutions. Feb. 27
NCAR to investigate impact of weather conditions on autonomous electric vehicles
(Autonomous Vehicle International) In addition to NCAR and Western Michigan University, the overall project includes ORNL and DriveU.auto, bringing together expertise from the academic, government and private sectors. Feb. 25
ORNL honors local small business partners and more business news
(Teknovation) ORNL held its “2021 Small Business Awards Ceremony," honoring the exceptional performance of four businesses and one employee for their support of the lab. A news release from ORNL said the lab allocated 53 percent of its subcontracting funds to small businesses for a total of nearly $400 million. Feb. 25
JuggerBot 3D to Double Production Capacity
(Business Journal Daily) JuggerBot will officially launch the second phase of a cooperative research and development agreement with Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The company will work with additive manufacturing process technology developed in 2021. Feb. 24
One of Most Diverse Biobanks in the USA Held by UTHSC and Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital
(Biobanking) “This repository, one of the largest databases in the United States to contain the genetic information of Black Americans linked to their de-identified electronic medical data, is a powerful tool,” said Robert Davis, director of the UTHSC Center in Biomedical Informatics and the UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair in Biomedical Informatics. Feb. 24
Robots Combine for Faster DED Build Rate (Video)
(Additive Manufacturing) The Medusa system developed at ORNL's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility combines three robots performing directed energy deposition metal additive manufacturing via Lincoln Electric Additive Solutions’ wire arc additive manufacturing process. Feb. 24
Carbon Capture Technology Harnesses Emissions to Produce Valuable Chemicals
(AZO Materials) A team of scientists from LanzaTech, Northwestern University and ORNL have developed carbon capture technology that harnesses emissions from industrial processes to produce acetone and isopropanol, known as IPA. These widely used chemicals serve as the basis of thousands of products, from fuels and solvents to acrylic glass and fabrics. Green Car Congress, Bioenergy International, Highways Today, Packaging Insights and Industry and Energy also reported the news. Feb. 22
Penn scientists’ accidental discovery could change the way doctors think about eczema
(Philadelphia Inquirer) The finding could lead to better treatments for a condition that many struggle to keep in check, the authors reported this month in Science Translational Medicine, collaborating with researchers at Penn Medicine’s dermatology department and ORNL, among other institutions. Feb. 22
Breakthrough proves fusion is a shot at the stars worth taking
(Reuters) Efficiently producing electricity from fusion requires more than making a better fusion heat source and there are still some major technological challenges to be overcome, including the materials used, says director of ORNL's Fusion Energy Division Mickey Wade. Feb. 22
Meet Clarice Phelps, the first Black woman to be involved in the discovery of a periodic element!
(WBIR) Phelps is now part of an outreach program to encourage young girls of color to take an interest in science. Feb. 21
Summit Study Spins Up New Insights Into Correlated Electron Systems
(Swift Telecast) A study led by researchers at ORNL used the nation’s fastest supercomputer to close in on the answer to a central question of modern physics that could help conduct development of the next generation of energy technologies. Feb. 19
ORION meeting Monday on urban microclimates
(Oak Ridger) The next ORION meeting will take place at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 21, via Zoom. The title of the talk will be “Studying Urban Microclimates.” The talk will be given by Melissa Allen-Dumas, research scientist at ORNL. Feb. 18
Mahle Gets US Government’s Aid To Reduce Methane Emissions
(Mobility Outlook) The project partners of Mahle Powertrain include the State University of New York in Buffalo/New York and ORNL. The research programme is part of the Reducing Emissions of Methane Every Day of the Year (REMEDY) initiative. Feb. 18
Powering the renewable energy transition with 3D printing: Nuclear
(3D Printing Industry) “Clearly, further electrification of the manufacturing sector through 3D printing is the near-term opportunity for decarbonization,” said ORNL's Xin Sun, associate laboratory director for the Energy Science and Technology Directorate, and Kathy McCarthy, associate laboratory director for the Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate. Feb. 17
Clinch River in the Spotlight
(Nuclear Newswire) Last week’s announcement from the Tennessee Valley Authority about its “New Nuclear Program,” which outlines the potential development of the Clinch River site near ORNL, is the catalyst for this week’s #ThrowbackThursday post. Feb. 17
Algorithms May Take Over the Job of Scanning Dense Federal Documents
(FedTech) “It’s an extremely difficult problem,” says Robert Patton, who leads the Learning Systems Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. “From a Word document, we can easily access information and do natural language processing.” Feb. 16
Solving the Quantum Decryption 'Harvest Now, Decrypt Later' Problem
(Security Week) Qrypt uses several different quantum mechanics-based random number generators. All are based on published technology with a roadmap of new quantum source types from research partners including ICFO, LANL, ORNL, and EPFL. HelpNet Security also reported on Qrypt. Feb. 16
Actinic’s Joe Fortenbaugh says supply chain issues have impacted R&D efforts
(Teknovation) Joe Fortenbaugh has been working out of the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He plans to continue working with the 3D printing experts and engineers at the MDF to develop Actinic’s thermally cured thermoset materials.
Gov. Bill Lee announces $72 million to the UT-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute to make East TN a STEM hub
(WBIR) Dustin Gilmer, one member of the Oak Ridge Institute, said he grew up on a farm in Kingsport. His family has lived in Appalachia for five generations. Gilmer is a Ph.D. student at the University of Tennessee, and through the Oak Ridge Institute, Gilmer researches 3D printing. Feb. 15
ORNL Receives Federal Laboratory Awards for Paper-Thin, Customizable Batteries
(Printed Electronics Now) ORNL, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development were recognized by the Federal Laboratory Consortium for their impactful partnership that resulted in a record $2.3 billion investment by Ultium Cells.Teknovation also shared news of the FLC Awards. Feb. 15
This fuel plant will use agricultural waste to combat climate change
(MIT Technology Review) “Certainly the added costs of BECCS, or any negative-emissions decarbonization strategy, would need to be somehow compensated for the industry to grow,” Matthew Langholtz said. Feb. 15
Qubitekk Named Finalist for Edison Award for Quantum-Based Security Technology
(HPC Wire) This new cybersecurity application is an extension of previous research and development by Qubitekk and EPB in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The Chattanoogan also reported the news. Feb. 11
Tennessee Tech women in scientific careers celebrated during national Women in Science Day
(Upper Cumberland Business Journal) Amy Elliott, a scientific leader in the field of 3D printing of metals and ceramics at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was named to Knoxville’s 40 Under 40 list and discussed what she has learned in her professional career. Feb. 11
Electrostatic engineering gets the lead out for faster batteries
(Plant Engineering) To understand these electrostatic interactions, and the theory that explains the new antiferroelectric they stabilized, the Cornell team worked with collaborators from Harvard; Pennsylvania State University; University of California, Berkeley; ETH Zürich; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and the Leibniz Institute for Crystal Growth. Feb. 11
Advanced Simulations, Additive Manufacturing Drive CAD/CAM Innovations
(SME) "While we work with many machine builders, universities and end users, Open Mind has had intensive collaboration with Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Knoxville, Tenn. to test software parameters and build parameters, variant strategies, and more." Feb. 10
Why Improving The Cold Weather Performance of Heat Pumps Can Help Achieve Decarbonization Goals
(Energy Central) In August 2021, DOE awarded a three-year grant to EPRI to develop a new, more energy efficient heat pump system, in coordination with ORNL. The new system will combine elements of a thermoelectric heat pump with a conventional air-source version to better perform during extreme cold weather. Feb. 9
Precision machining produces tiny, light-guiding cubes for advancing info tech
(Paradigm/Medium) Drilling with the beam of an electron microscope, scientists at ORNL precisely machined tiny electrically conductive cubes that can interact with light and organized them in patterned structures that confine and relay light’s electromagnetic signal. Feb. 9
Examining DNA In Drops Of Water Near Hydropower Plants
(CleanTechnica) Researchers at ORNL are using a novel approach in determining environmental impacts to aquatic species near hydropower facilities, potentially leading to smarter facility designs that can support electrical grid reliability. Feb. 9
Carbon Killers
(Compass) Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. will be using additive manufacturing technology developed at ORNL to fabricate parts for carbon-free micro modular nuclear reactors that can be deployed almost anywhere. 3D Printing also shared news of the licensing. Feb. 8
In their own words: Be Global Safety execs on TechStars ‘Future’ selection
(WRAL TechWire) The Industries of the Future Accelerator will run in partnership with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and the University of Tennessee System. Venture Nashville Connections also posted a story about the accelerator. Feb. 8
Geothermal startup nabs $40M for deep drilling push
(Axios) Quaise, working with ORNL, plans to move from indoor drilling to in-ground field under lab conditions allowing expansion to depths around 10 meters this year. Feb. 8
These tech founders are heading to a new downtown Knoxville hub for startups
(News Sentinel) Ten national and international tech startups coming to East Tennessee to grow their companies will set up shop inside one of the most visible spaces in downtown Knoxville. Global firm Techstars will launch its Knoxville-Oak Ridge Industries of the Future Accelerator inside the former Regions Bank office at the corner Gay Street and Union Avenue. Feb. 7
Manufacturing bits: Design tool for solid-state batteries
(Semiconductor Engineering) ORNL has devised a new tool designed to accelerate the development of energy-dense solid-state batteries. The tool, called the Solid-State Battery Performance Analyzer and Calculator, enables researchers to assess the impact of battery designs and choice of cell components for solid-state batteries. Feb. 7
This week’s “News & Notes” feature covers a number of areas
(Teknovation) The budget that Governor Bill Lee presented last Monday night to a joint session of the Tennessee General Assembly included fully funding the University of Tennessee-Oak Ridge Innovation Institute (UT-ORII). Feb. 6
Scientists Make Glue So Strong It Can Hold 300 lbs, Withstand 400 F
(Newsweek) Tomonori Saito, a scientist at ORNL, and colleagues describe how they have produced a material with enhanced temperature endurance plus "unprecedented tough adhesion characteristics" that "surpass those of many existing commercial adhesives." The story was also shared by MSN. Feb. 4
ORNL’s Govindarajan Muralidharan Elected NAI Fellow
(Printed Electronics Now) ORNL's Govindarajan Muralidharan has been elected a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Muralidharan was recognized for “a highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development and welfare of society.” Feb. 4
Quantum material should be a conductor but remains an insulator
(Nanowerk) This work used high intensity neutron beams at the Spallation Neutron Source at ORNL to look deep inside an archetype quantum material, lanthanum nickel oxide, in which one-sixth of the lanthanum atoms were replaced with strontium atoms. Feb. 3
How to Make an Impossible Nuclear Reactor (3D Printer Sold Separately)
(IEEE Spectrum) Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. has licensed a novel 3D-printing technology from ORNL that will allow the company to make nuclear reactor components not with metals but with technical ceramics that are much more resistant to radiation and extreme temperatures, enabling them to speed up the development of next-generation reactors. This news was also covered by the Oak Ridger and republished by Yahoo! News. Feb. 2
Polymer Upcycling Of Common Plastic Adds Toughness, Recyclability To Structural Adhesives
(Adhesives and Sealants) Researchers at ORNL used polymer chemistry to transform a common household plastic into a reusable adhesive with a rare combination of strength and ductility, making it one of the toughest materials ever reported. Feb. 2
Environmental DNA Samples Used To Explore Impact of Hydropower Facilities
(Technology Networks) Researchers at ORNL are using a novel approach in determining environmental impacts to aquatic species near hydropower facilities, potentially leading to smarter facility designs that can support electrical grid reliability. Feb. 2
Q&A: ORNL’s Early Steps in DOE’s March to Build a Quantum Internet
(HPCWire) ORNL recently became one of a handful of organizations funded by DOE to develop the underlying technology required to build a Quantum Internet. The move came at roughly the same time ORNL reorganized its quantum research under a Quantum Information Science Section headed by Nicholas Peters. Feb. 2
Oak Ridge Supercomputing Team Seeks Novel Covid Therapeutic Pathways
(HPCWire) Researchers at ORNL are using the most powerful supercomputer in the country to identify “flexible” regions of the virus’ spike protein, which could prove to be viable targets for new therapeutics. Feb. 2
Philip Roth Named General Chair for SC24
(HPCWire) Philip Roth, a group leader in the National Center for Computational Sciences at ORNL, has been named the general chair of SC24, the 2024 edition of the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis. Feb. 1
Industry Leaders in Aerospace and Defense Composites Manufacturing Honored
(Manufacturing News) Ahmed Arabi Hassen, ORNL R&D staff scientist, is the recipient for the 2021 J.H. "Jud" Hall Composites Manufacturing Award. He is leading ORNL's development efforts for advanced manufacturing of molds and dies for the composite manufacturing industry. Feb. 1
ASHRAE Recognizes Outstanding Achievements at Winter Conference
(Retrofit) ASHRAE recognized the outstanding achievements and contributions of members to the Society and the built environment industry during its 2022 Winter Conference in Las Vegas. Among the honorees are ORNL's Brian Fricke and Jason DeGraw. Feb. 1
EV Battery Recycling Made Safer with Automated Disassembly
(Tech Briefs) ORNL engineers are creating the robotic tools and controls that will automate the process of disassembling batteries. "With our system, when the robot picks up the battery pack and puts it on the production line, it marks the last time a human will touch it until it’s in pieces and parts." Feb. 1
Precision machining produces tiny, light-guiding cubes for advancing info tech
(R&D World) Drilling with the beam of an electron microscope, scientists at ORNL precisely machined tiny electrically conductive cubes that can interact with light and organized them in patterned structures that confine and relay light’s electromagnetic signal. Feb. 1
ORNL employees, UT-Battelle donate $900K+ to nonprofits
(Oak Ridge Today) Most of the donations, almost $800,000, came from laboratory employees. UT-Battelle provided an additional $144,000 in corporate contributions. That’s a total of $944,000 in donations. Jan. 31
Secretary’s Honor Awards recognize ORNL employees
(Oak Ridge Today) ORNL employees received DOE Secretary’s Honor Awards from Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm in January for their work on projects related to computer tools and classified information, a new alloy, and the production of plutonium-238 and special components for the Mars Perseverance rover. Jan. 31
R&D 100 of the day: MSC MillMax
(R&D World) MSC MillMax, developed by ORNL and MSC Industrial Supply, Manufacturing Laboratories, uses impact testing equipment and software to improve the milling performance on Computer Numerical Control machine tools. Jan. 31
The future of (sustainable) safe nuclear energy is 3D printed at ORNL
(3D Printing Media Network) TRISO fuels and 3D printing of refractory metals are shaping the new generation of safer and more economical nuclear reactors. Jan. 30
Solid-state battery start-up Sparkz opens pilot plant
(Electrive) The company was founded in 2019 and has since completed the transfer of six patents from the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which continues to be an R&D partner. Jan. 29
ORNL gains patent for 'SkyBAAM' cable-hoisted construction 3D printing technology
(3D Printing Industry) ORNL has patented a novel cable-driven construction process in which a nozzle can be used to 3D print entire buildings while suspended in mid-air. Sky Big Area Additive Manufacturing, or ‘SkyBAAM,' is designed to be operated using cords attached to cable winders, that provide users with full spatial control over the movements of its end effector. Jan. 28
The Broad Promise of Large-Format AM
(Additive Manufacturing) "ORNL has this kind of neat idea for taking the robot deposition concept even farther. So their system is called Medusa. And it's three different robots, equally spaced around a turntable. ... And the deposition program kind of splits the work among the different robots." Jan. 28
ORNL Reviews Quantum Research Milestones, Will Triple Its Quantum-Dedicated Lab Space
(HPC Wire) The race for quantum competency holds massive implications for the United States’ economic and national security, and the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory is poised to lead the way. Jan. 28
Federal employers upbeat on staffing issues
(Oak Ridger) "To meet the demands of the lab’s growing scientific portfolio, we have hired over 1,200 new scientists, engineers and support staff in the past two years. Today the lab has more than 5,800 employees representing over 60 nations, and we plan to hire up to 1,000 new employees over the coming year." Jan. 27
Europe holds its own in supercomputer race as China squeezes out US
(Science Business) Oak Ridge will soon be upgrading, with its Frontier exascale computer due to enter operation this year. And China is believed to already have two exascale machines, although has so far kept them relatively quiet, not yet submitting performance data to the Top500. Jan. 27
Video: Functional Excavator Features 3D Printed Parts
(Additive Manufacturing) The Additive Manufactured Excavator created at the ORNL Manufacturing Demonstration Facility in Tennessee, swaps three of the standard components on a Case New Holland excavator for 3D printed alternatives. Jan. 27
ORNL is a leading producer of radioactive materials used to treat aggressive cancers
(WBIR) ORNL produced uranium-233 as potential fuel for nuclear reactors in the 1950s. However, the project did not succeed, leaving a stockpile of waste uranium-233 on the site. Now, scientists are using that stockpile to create isotopes used to treat aggressive forms of cancer. Jan. 26
Adhesive Made Using Upcycled Plastics Is One Of The Toughest Materials Ever
(Wonderful Engineering) Researchers at ORNL have created one of the “toughest materials ever reported” in the form of a reusable adhesive. The adhesive was made from everyday household plastics. Jan. 25
Insulation Innovation is Still Too Expensive but Even More Important
(Propmodo) To figure out how to upgrade exterior walls to give them the best R-Value, the Wall Retrofit Solution project examined various materials and methods to identify retrofit recommendations and best practices. Researchers at ORNL and Bayer MaterialScience narrowed down their recommendation to two solutions, but each has major flaws. Jan. 25
Have You Ever Seen A Giant 3D Printer?
(CBS Mission Unstoppable) Manufacturing scientist Dr. Amy Elliott works with a 3D printer big enough to print a car at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Mission Unstoppable is a TV show geared toward STEM engagement among girls. Jan. 24
Upcycled adhesive is one of the toughest materials ever reported
(New Atlas) The strong new adhesive is the handiwork of scientists at ORNL, who used polystyrene-b-poly(ethylene-co-butylene)-b-polystyrene, or SEBS, as their starting point. The story was also shared by SpecialChem. Jan. 24
ORNL targets electric grid security, EV battery charging
(Oak Ridger) In a recent talk to Friends of ORNL, Richard A. Raines, director of ORNL’s Electrification and Energy Infrastructures Division, said, “We are making a difference. We are developing capabilities in the lab that are being field tested.” Jan. 24
Zeiss and Oak Ridge Develop New Characterization Methodology
(Production Machining) Technology could become the final arbiter of how much lithium mining is needed for the all-electric vehicle market of the future. … ORNL has been working on a reusable material that would extract lithium from concentrated brine at geothermal plants. Jan. 24
Installation of newest supercomputer underway at ORNL
(Oak Ridger) Installation and integration of the system is now underway. Frontier will be available to researchers for open science this year and will be in full user operations on Jan. 1, 2023. Jan. 23
$200 Million Says Solid-State Batteries Will Soon Crack Gasmobile Death Grip
(CleanTechnica) ORNL chimed in last November with a breakthrough that involves a cost effective, scalable method for joining the various materials used in solid state batteries, which is considered “one of the big challenges” in the field. Jan. 21
Oak Ridge National Lab works on cooling vaccines
(Oak Ridger and Yahoo! News) ORNL researchers have retrofitted a commercial refrigeration container designed to ensure COVID-19 vaccines remain at ultra-low temperatures during long transport and while locally stored. Jan. 21
FDA urges doctors to prioritize blood draws as collection tube supplies dwindle
(Fierce Biotech) In one out-of-the-box effort to help meet that demand, when sterile tubes were needed to simply hold swab samples before testing, the U.S. government and ORNL began collaborating with a group of independent soda bottle manufacturers working for Coca-Cola to help fill the gap. Jan. 20
3D Printed Concrete Is Key to This Smart Wall: The Cool Parts Show #40
(Additive Manufacturing) At ORNL's Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, building layer by layer with concrete opens the opportunity to embed functional items inside a structure. The EmPower Wall, built using the MDF-developed SkyBAAM cable-driven concrete 3D printer, incorporates cooling water lines to help conserve energy and save cost. Jan. 20
ORNL uses upcycled plastics to make new powerful, reusable adhesive
(WATE and MSN) It’s not your average sticky tape. One of the “toughest materials ever reported” in the form of a reusable adhesive has been developed by researchers at ORNL. The new adhesive was made from common household plastics. Jan. 20
Simulations help drive innovation, but real-world data still key for nuclear
(Reuters) For modelling and simulation to be useful tools, they must also submit to rigorous validation and verification, and uncertainty quantification, says Dave J Kropaczek, Director of the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors at ORNL. Jan. 19
ORNL data helps FEMA respond quickly to natural disasters
(WBIR) Researchers at ORNL are working with FEMA to catalog storm damage. In December, one of the worst tornadoes in Kentucky's history tore through the town of Mayfield, leveling hundreds of homes and buildings. Jan. 19
Pioneering Refrigerant Work Delivers Big Gains In Carbon Footprint Reduction
(CleanTechnica) When Brian Fricke walks into a supermarket, evidence of his scientific achievement is all around in the refrigerated cases housing the fresh fruits and vegetables. As an ORNL building equipment researcher, Fricke has a long history of making sure that produce is kept fresh in an energy efficient and environmentally sound manner. Jan. 19
Sustainability or Resilience: Either or Both?
(Roofing Magazine) White membranes often lose much of their reflectivity in the early years of their service life. In a study reported by senior members of the staff at ORNL, reflective roofing lost between 30 to 50 percent of its reflectivity during the first three years of service. Jan. 19
Refrigeration solution keeps COVID vaccines cool
(Engineering 360) Researchers from Carrier and ORNL collaborated on the design of an effective/solution to mitigate the challenges posed by vaccine distribution logistics. The engineers retrofitted a commercial refrigeration container designed to ensure that vaccines remain at ultra-low temperatures during long transport and while locally stored. Jan. 19
We’ll meet the newest career official on the nuclear non-proliferation beat
(Federal Drive/Federal News Network) As national security threats seem to multiply constantly, nuclear non-proliferation remains an abiding priority. Now there’s a new guy at the helm of the National Security Sciences Directorate at ORNL: Associate Lab Director Moe Khaleel. Jan. 18
Researchers Introduce High-Performance Deep Learning Toolbox for Genome-Scale Prediction of Protein Structure, Function
(MarkTechPost) Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and ORNL are using supercomputing and new deep learning technologies to anticipate the structures and functions of thousands of proteins with unknown activities. Jan. 18
Breaking down climate change, a neighborhood at a time
(Oak Ridger) The world is full of “huge, gnarly problems,” as ORNL research scientist and musician Melissa Allen-Dumas puts it — no matter what line of work you’re in. Jan. 17
Major improvements in quantum fidelity
(Morning News) Researchers used ORNL’s Quantum Computing User Program to achieve major improvements in quantum fidelity, a potential step toward more accurate, reliable quantum networks and supercomputers. Jan. 17
New Filter Doubles Nuclear Fuel Extractable from Seawater
(IEEE Spectrum) The membrane’s high uranium-capturing capacity is appealing and indeed surpasses its predecessors, says Costas Tsouris, a chemical engineer at ORNL. What’s also really important, especially for the marine setting, is the membrane’s kinetics. Jan. 17
Visualising the race to build the world’s fastest supercomputers
(Al Jazeera) Fugaku has at least three times the processing power as the world’s second-fastest computer known as Summit – an IBM-built system at ORNL, which measured 148,600 TFLOPs. Jan. 14
Virtual twins will drive the digital evolution of industrial
(Design World) The ability to run simulations on the basis of large datasets makes digital twin technology an important asset in smart city initiatives. Testament to this is the partnership of the researchers from NREL and ORNL with Chattanooga, on the use of digital replicas to enhance energy efficiency, whilst optimizing the speed, safety, and travel time for drivers. Jan. 14
The boreal of Minnesota could look like Kansas if CO2 emissions remain ‘business as usual’
(Grist) The experiment — a collaboration between the U.S. Forest Service and ORNL — features 10 open-top glass chambers. Each is 30 feet high, 40 feet in diameter, and designed — by controlling temperature and CO2 levels — to mimic what will happen to boreal peatlands under various global warming scenarios. Jan. 14
QT/ Photon pairs are more sensitive to rotations than single photons
(Paradigm/Medium) Neutron-scattering experiments by physicists from Rice, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of California, San Diego and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University revealed telltale signs of antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations that were coupled to superconductivity in uranium ditelluride. Jan. 14
Coronavirus: Probing for particles at Oak Ridge National Lab
(Oak Ridger and Yahoo! News) Scientists from ORNL, along with Pacific Northwest, Sandia and Ames national laboratories used an atomic force microscope to measure how easily particles of the virus’s spike protein attached to surfaces, a property called adhesion energy. Jan. 14
Tailored polymer strengthens 3D-printed sand structures
(Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining) Scientists from ORNL have tailored polyethylenimine to enable sand structures with intricate geometries and enhanced strength. It is said to double the strength of sand parts compared with conventional binders. Jan. 14
USNC licenses ORNL method to 3D print nuclear reactor components
(3D Printing Media Network) Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation has licensed a novel method to 3D print highly resistant components for use in nuclear reactor designs. USNC Executive Vice President Kurt Terrani, formerly of ORNL, said the novel method will allow the company to make parts with desired complex shapes more efficiently. The news was also reported by World Nuclear News, Manufactur3D, ANS' Nuclear Newswire and the News Sentinel's Biz Ticker. Jan. 13
Middle school students launch satellite into space to learn about the effects of the Gatlinburg wildfires
(WBIR) "All the mentors and instructors and students put in a huge amount of time," said Peter Thornton, an ORNL scientist who helped the students with the project. "Oh, it's huge fun. Yeah. Now, I wouldn't trade it for anything." Jan. 13
Summit Powers Novel Protein Function Prediction Work
(HPC Wire) Researchers led by ORNL and the Georgia Institute of Technology have applied supercomputer-powered deep learning to quickly predict the structures and functions of tens of thousands more proteins. Jan. 13
AI makes it possible to simulate 25 billion water molecules at once
(New Scientist) Computer simulations of clouds of atoms and molecules must always trade scale for accuracy, but a new technique using ORNL's Summit shows that both are possible at once using AI and clever coding. Jan. 12
Using 3D-printed molds to create unitized window forms
(Building Design and Construction) COOKFOX designer Pam Campbell and Gates Precast's Mo Wright discuss the use of 3D-printed molds from Oak Ridge National Lab to create unitized window panels for One South First, a residential-commercial high-rise in Brooklyn, N.Y. Jan. 12
Artificially altered material could accelerate neuromorphic device development
(Nanowerk) Researchers from Oak Ridge and Argonne national laboratories, Tampere University and the University of Hamburg applied complementary many-body theoretical methods at multiple computing facilities to obtain new insights into VO2’s interactions with different types of point defects. AZO Materials also shared the news. Jan. 12
Across the Boreal Forest, Scientists Are Tracking Warming’s Toll
(Yale Environment 360) The experiment — a collaboration between the U.S. Forest Service and ORNL — features 10 open-top glass chambers. Each is 30 feet high, 40 feet in diameter, and designed — by controlling temperature and CO2 levels — to mimic what will happen to boreal peatlands under various global warming scenarios. Jan. 11
FORNL talk Jan. 11 on electrified infrastructure
(Oak Ridger) Richard A. Raines, director of the Electrification and Energy Infrastructures Division of ORNL, will speak at noon Tuesday, Jan. 11, to Friends of ORNL on “An Electrified U.S. Infrastructure Ecosystem: Opportunities and Challenges.” Jan. 10
Multi-Axis Machining: Beyond Mainstream
(SME) Scott Smith, the group leader for intelligent machine tools at ORNL, working with the MDF, made a point we can all relate to: “NC machine tools, which were once rare and expensive, are now common—yet they did not completely supplant manual machine tools, which are also still common and useful.” Jan. 10
HyBlend project to assess hydrogen compatibility with pipeline materials and operations
(Green Car Congress) Led by NREL — with participation from ORNL and other national labs — the two-year HyBlend project will assess hydrogen compatibility with pipeline materials and operations and deliver important information regarding long-term impacts. POWER and H2 View also shared the news. Jan. 7
The Climate Report: The road to safer, greener & more accessible transport
(GovInsider) The Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the US is using AI imaging to identify vehicles which consume more fuel, GCN reported. It is also training traffic lights to change their timings, so they send these vehicles through traffic faster. Jan. 7
Fusion energy is a reason to be excited about the future
(Vox) The journey toward fusion has yielded benefits for other fields, particularly in plasma physics, which is used extensively in manufacturing semiconductors for electronics. “Plasma processing is one of the things that make your iPhones possible,” said Kathryn McCarthy, a fusion researcher at ORNL. Jan. 6
ORNL researchers find way to keep vaccines cold for longer
(WATE) Oak Ridge National Lab researchers say they’ve figured out a way to make sure COVID-19 vaccines stay super-cold for long periods of time while they’re being stored or transported. Cooling Post also shared the news. Jan. 5
40 Under 40: Amy Elliott innovates in 3D printing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
(News Sentinel) A scientific leader in the field of inkjet 3D printing of metals and ceramics, Amy Elliott's work is expected to transform advanced manufacturing in automotive, aerospace and other industries. Her numerous patents and co-authored papers, along with her innovations, make her one of ORNL's most accomplished innovators. Jan. 6
Video: 3D Printing Rotors for Electric Motors
(Additive Manufacturing) Amiee Jackson is a researcher with Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, and in this video, she discusses her work in producing rotors via laser powder bed fusion. Rotors are usually made by winding a conductive alloy. Jan. 5
40 Under 40: Leah Jacklyn Broussard explores the fundamental forces of nature
(News Sentinel) Leah Jacklyn Broussard grew up on a Louisiana farm with cows, crayfish, and sugarcane. Now the realm of fundamental physics is her work and her playground at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. With her experiments she seeks the places where our models of physics break. Jan. 4
Susan Hubbard Named ORNL Deputy for Science and Technology
(Inside HPC) Susan Hubbard has been named deputy for science and technology at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory effective March 1, 2022. Jan. 3
Moe Khaleel to Oversee National Security Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
(ExecutiveGov) Moe Khaleel, formerly deputy for projects at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will lead ORNL’s National Security Sciences Directorate as an associate laboratory director. Jan. 3
Meet the outstanding young professionals in the Knox.biz 40 Under 40 class of 2021
The Knoxville News Sentinel’s Business Journal named ORNL’s Leah Broussard and Amy Elliott to its 2021 class of 40 under 40 winners. Jan. 3
Sand, surf and science: 7 of the best beach stories of 2021
(Cosmos) A superstrong sand structure could be used in aeronautics, according to new ORNL research. Jan. 3
How Do Scientists Find Something That Doesn’t Exist Naturally?
What is an isotope and how do scientists find something that doesn’t exist naturally? ORNL nuclear engineer Clarice Phelps explains in a segment for CBS Mission Unstoppable, show geared toward STEM engagement among girls. (Re-aired) Jan. 1
Melissa Allen-Dumas & Breaking Down Climate Change One Neighborhood At A Time
(CleanTechnica) The world is full of “huge, gnarly problems,” as Oak Ridge National Laboratory research scientist and musician Melissa Allen-Dumas puts it — no matter what line of work you’re in. That was certainly the case when she would wrestle with a tough piece of music. Jan. 1
YSU lands $2.3M grant for research
(Tribune Chronicle) The partnership with YSU also includes the Blairsville, Pa.-based National Center for Defense Manufacturing and Machining, the organization that manages America Makes, and ORNL. Jan. 1
Superheavy science: ORNL’s actinide abilities enable the discovery of new elements
(STEM Magazine) When it comes to unveiling parts of the periodic table yet undiscovered, ORNL is doing some heavy lifting. A combination of unique facilities, people with specific skills and expertise, and a storied history has the lab leading the effort for superheavy element discovery. January 2022 issue