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From left to right, Cortney Piper, executive director of the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council; Susan Hubbard, ORNL deputy for science and technology; Dan Miller, innovation Crossroads program lead; and Mike Paulus, ORNL director of technology transfer, attend the Innovation Crossroads Showcase at the Knoxville Chamber on Sept. 22. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A crowd of investors and supporters turned out for last week’s Innovation Crossroads Showcase at the Knoxville Chamber as part of Innov865 Week. Sponsored by ORNL and the Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council, the event celebrated deep-tech entrepreneurs and the Oak Ridge Corridor as a growing energy innovation hub for the nation.

ORNL identity science researcher Nell Barber works on a facial recognition camera. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Though Nell Barber wasn’t sure what her future held after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, she now uses her interest in human behavior to design systems that leverage machine learning algorithms to identify faces in a crowd.

Logan Sturm, Alvin M. Weinberg Fellow at ORNL, creates a mashup between additive manufacturing and cybersecurity research. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

How an Alvin M. Weinberg Fellow is increasing security for critical infrastructure components

Jim Szybist, Propulsion Science section head at ORNL, is applying his years of alternative fuel combustion and thermodynamics research to the challenge of cleaning up the hard-to-decarbonize, heavy-duty mobility sector. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy.

What’s getting Jim Szybist fired up these days? It’s the opportunity to apply his years of alternative fuel combustion and thermodynamics research to the challenge of cleaning up the hard-to-decarbonize, heavy-duty mobility sector — from airplanes to locomotives to ships and massive farm combines.

Earth Day

Tackling the climate crisis and achieving an equitable clean energy future are among the biggest challenges of our time. 

ORNL scientists created a new microbial trait mapping process that improves on classical protoplast fusion techniques to identify the genes that trigger desirable genetic traits like improved biomass processing. Credit: Nathan Armistead/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy. Reprinted with the permission of Oxford University Press, publisher of Nucleic Acids Research

ORNL scientists had a problem mapping the genomes of bacteria to better understand the origins of their physical traits and improve their function for bioenergy production.

Costas Tsouris portrait

While Tsouris’ water research is diverse in scope, its fundamentals are based on basic science principles that remain largely unchanged, particularly in a mature field like chemical engineering.

A new method uses E. coli to generate DNA with methylation patterns that target microbes recognize and accept as their own, facilitating customization of microbes for biofuels production.

Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated a method to insert genes into a variety of microorganisms that previously would not accept foreign DNA, with the goal of creating custom microbes to break down plants for bioenergy.

Stephanie Galanie

Early career scientist Stephanie Galanie has applied her expertise in synthetic biology to a number of challenges in academia and private industry. She’s now bringing her skills in high-throughput bio- and analytical chemistry to accelerate research on feedstock crops as a Liane B. Russell Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Alex Johs at ORNL's Spallation Neutron Source

Sometimes solutions to the biggest problems can be found in the smallest details. The work of biochemist Alex Johs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory bears this out, as he focuses on understanding protein structures and molecular interactions to resolve complex global problems like the spread of mercury pollution in waterways and the food supply.