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Ashley Barker. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL

At the National Center for Computational Sciences, Ashley Barker enjoys one of the least complicated–sounding job titles at ORNL: section head of operations. But within that seemingly ordinary designation lurks a multitude of demanding roles as she oversees the complete user experience for NCCS computer systems.

Phil Snyder

When virtually unlimited energy from fusion becomes a reality on Earth, Phil Snyder and his team will have had a hand in making it happen.

Jeff Foster, Distinguished Staff Fellow at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is looking for ways to control polymer sequencing for a variety of uses. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Chemist Jeff Foster is looking for ways to control sequencing in polymers that could result in designer molecules to benefit a variety of industries, including medicine and energy.

Jack Cahill of ORNL’s Biosciences Division is developing new techniques to view and measure the previously unseen to better understand important chemical processes at play in plant-microbe interactions and in human health. In this photo, Cahill is positioning a rhizosphere-on-a-chip platform for imaging by mass spectrometry. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept of Energy

John “Jack” Cahill is out to illuminate previously unseen processes with new technology, advancing our understanding of how chemicals interact to influence complex systems whether it’s in the human body or in the world beneath our feet.

ORNL’s Tomás Rush explores the secret lives of fungi and plants for insights into the interactions that determine plant health. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Tomás Rush began studying the mysteries of fungi in fifth grade and spent his college intern days tromping through forests, swamps and agricultural lands searching for signs of fungal plant pathogens causing disease on host plants.

Thomaz Carvalhaes. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

In human security research, Thomaz Carvalhaes says, there are typically two perspectives: technocentric and human centric. Rather than pick just one for his work, Carvalhaes uses data from both perspectives to understand how technology impacts the lives of people.

Samarthya Bhagia examines a sample of a thermoplastic composite material additively manufactured using poplar wood and polylactic acid. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Chemical and environmental engineer Samarthya Bhagia is focused on achieving carbon neutrality and a circular economy by designing new plant-based materials for a range of applications from energy storage devices and sensors to environmentally friendly bioplastics.

ORNL mechanical engineer Marm Dixit focuses his research on solid-state batteries and their potential use in electric vehicles. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Mechanical engineer Marm Dixit’s work is all about getting electricity to flow efficiently from one end of a solid-state battery to the other. It’s a high-stakes problem

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