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The Department of Energy’s Office of Science has selected three ORNL research teams to receive funding through DOE’s new Biopreparedness Research Virtual Environment initiative.

UnifyFS team wins IPDPS award for open-source software

A research team from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories won the first Best Open-Source Contribution Award for its paper at the 37th IEEE International Parallel and Distributed Processing Symposium.

ORNL seismic researcher Chengping Chai placed seismic sensors on the ground at various distances from an ORNL nuclear reactor to learn whether they could detect its operating state. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Like most scientists, Chengping Chai is not content with the surface of things: He wants to probe beyond to learn what’s really going on. But in his case, he is literally building a map of the world beneath, using seismic and acoustic data that reveal when and where the earth moves.

Image of outerspace

Few things carry the same aura of mystery as dark matter. The name itself radiates secrecy, suggesting something hidden in the shadows of the Universe.

Paul Langan will oversee ORNL's research directorate focused on biological and environmental systems science. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Paul Langan will join ORNL in the spring as associate laboratory director for the Biological and Environmental Systems Science Directorate.

Innovation Crossroads Cohort Six includes: Bianca Bailey, Agriwater; Rajan Kumar, Ateois Systems; Alex Stiles, Vitriform3D; Kim Tutin, Captis Aire; Anca Timofte, Holocene Climate; and Pete Willette, facil.ai. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Innovation Crossroads program welcomes six new science and technology innovators from across the United States to the sixth cohort. 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Leah Broussard shows a neutron-absorbing "wall" that stops all neutrons but in theory would allow hypothetical mirror neutrons to pass through. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

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.

Dongarra in 2019 with Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Summit supercomputer

A force within the supercomputing community, Jack Dongarra developed software packages that became standard in the industry, allowing high-performance computers to become increasingly more powerful in recent decades.

Mars Rover 2020

More than 50 current employees and recent retirees from ORNL received Department of Energy Secretary’s Honor Awards from Secretary Jennifer Granholm in January as part of project teams spanning the national laboratory system. The annual awards recognized 21 teams and three individuals for service and contributions to DOE’s mission and to the benefit of the nation.

In a study, ORNL researchers concluded that the most direct path to plastic upcycling is through designing polymers specifically for reuse, which would allow the material to be converted into high-value products. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers determined that designing polymers specifically with upcycling in mind could reduce future plastic waste considerably and facilitate a circular economy where the material is used repeatedly.