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An artist's rendering of the Ultium Cells battery cell production facility to be built in Spring Hill, Tennessee, which will employ 1,300 people. Recognizing the unique expertise of their organizations, ORNL, TVA, and the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development have been working together for several years to bring startups developing battery technologies for EVs and established automotive firms to Tennessee. Credit: Ultium Cells

ORNL, TVA and TNECD were recognized by the Federal Laboratory Consortium for their impactful partnership that resulted in a record $2.3 billion investment by Ultium Cells, a General Motors and LG Energy Solution joint venture, to build a battery cell manufacturing plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee.

Miaofang Chi, a scientist in the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, received the 2021 Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Science and Technology. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A world-leading researcher in solid electrolytes and sophisticated electron microscopy methods received Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s top science honor today for her work in developing new materials for batteries. The announcement was made during a livestreamed Director’s Awards event hosted by ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia.

Ten scientists from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are among the world’s most highly cited researchers. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Ten scientists from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are among the world’s most highly cited researchers, according to a bibliometric analysis conducted by the scientific publication analytics firm Clarivate.

Larry Baylor, left, and Andrew Lupini have been elected fellows of the American Physical Society. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

ORNL's Larry Baylor and Andrew Lupini have been elected fellows of the American Physical Society.

Compression (red arrows) alters crystal symmetry (green arrows), which changes band dispersion (left and right), leading to highly mobile electrons. Credit: Jaimee Janiga, Andrew Sproles, Satoshi Okamoto/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A team led by the ORNL has found a rare quantum material in which electrons move in coordinated ways, essentially “dancing.”

ORNL’s particle entanglement machine is a precursor to the device that researchers at the University of Oklahoma are building, which will produce entangled quantum particles for quantum sensing to detect underground pipeline leaks. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

To minimize potential damage from underground oil and gas leaks, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is co-developing a quantum sensing system to detect pipeline leaks more quickly.

Sergei Kalinin

Sergei Kalinin, a scientist and inventor at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been elected a fellow of the Microscopy Society of America professional society.

Urban climate modeling

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have identified a statistical relationship between the growth of cities and the spread of paved surfaces like roads and sidewalks. These impervious surfaces impede the flow of water into the ground, affecting the water cycle and, by extension, the climate.

SCGSR Awardee Jacob Zettlemoyer, Indiana University Bloomington, led data analysis and worked with ORNL’s Mike Febbraro on coatings, shown under blue light, to shift argon light to visible wavelengths to boost detection. Credit: Rex Tayloe/Indiana University

The COHERENT particle physics experiment at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has firmly established the existence of a new kind of neutrino interaction.

ORNL’s Marcel Demarteau inspects experiments along Neutrino Alley at the Spallation Neutron Source, which makes neutrinos as a byproduct. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Marcel Demarteau is director of the Physics Division at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. For topics from nuclear structure to astrophysics, he shapes ORNL’s physics research agenda.