Bio
Matt Warne received his bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and Cytology in 2004 from the University of Florida, afterwards spending half a year as a graduate research assistant investigating gram positive bacterial transformation techniques. He joined ORNL in January 2020 a Technical Staff Member at the RMAL where he worked as a separations and metals chemist for six months before moving to the TAL.
Before joining ORNL, Matt worked for 2 years as a metals analyst at Galbraith Laboratory in Knoxville, and over 13 years as an environmental analyst for Environmental Laboratory Services in Orlando. Matt has over 18 years’ experience in Analytical Chemistry.
Over these past three years, Matt has steadily increased his roles and responsibilities supporting the RMAL and now the TAL portfolio of analytical projects including the nuclear isotope production at the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center. Matt’s performance directly impacts REDC’s R&D and production projects including Pu-238 Production Project (and Np-237 Reprocessing), Cf-252/Bk-249 Campaigns (and Cm-244 reprocessing), Pm-147 purification, Ni-63 purification, U-233 Rescue Program, and many smaller isotope purification runs. Matt now serves as the Lead Chemist for all TAL measurements of anions and cations using Ion Chromatography (IC), and radioactive elements analysis using Inductively Coupled Plasma - Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). Further, he has gained extensive knowledge and experience in the measurement and analysis of metals and radioactive isotopes by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICPMS).
Matt is an active member of the American Chemical Society, and he was recently awarded the Department of Energy Secretary’s Honor Award for service and contribution to the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Radioisotope Power Systems Team.