Ahmed Arabi Hassen of ORNL has been named a Fellow of the American Society for Nondestructive Testing, recognizing his leadership and contributions to nondestructive evaluation and composite manufacturing. His work has advanced innovative manufacturing technologies while helping accelerate the adoption of advanced materials across industry.
ORNL received five of nine awards from the U.S. Department of Energy's Transportation Technologies Office at the 2026 Annual Merit Review for innovations in transportation efficiency, vehicle technologies, and advanced manufacturing. The honors included two individual Distinguished Achievement Awards and three team awards recognizing advances in commercial vehicle modeling, fuel economy resources, rare-earth-free electric motors, advanced truck materials, and computational welding technologies.
The Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL has become a global leader in advanced manufacturing by combining place-based innovation, industry collaboration, technology transfer, ambitious demonstrations, workforce
Robert Wagner, associate laboratory director for the Energy Science and Technology Directorate at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been awarded the prestigious 2026 Henry Laurence Gantt Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
Sam Hurst was a pioneering ORNL physicist and inventor who helped develop resistive touchscreen technology, laying the foundation for the touchscreens used in modern devices. He earned more than 30 patents, founded four companies, and played a key role in strengthening the long-standing partnership between ORNL and the University of Tennessee.
Tennessee Tech students partnered with ORNL to develop a tool that automatically extracts manufacturing equipment data from photos, reducing manual data entry. The project gives students real-world industry experience while helping ORNL improve its manufacturing software.
Alex Botts of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) received the 2026 Young Energy Professional of the Year Award for the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast U.S. Region by the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE). The award recognizes her leadership and contributions to industrial energy efficiency and workforce development.
Alex Roschli has been named to the 2026 Mechanical Engineering Watch List by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).
ORNL had a major presence at the 2026 AI+ Expo for National Competitiveness with multiple ORNL researchers presenting and demoing their latest work. Hosted by the Special Competitive Studies Project, the event brought together leaders from technology, academia, industry and government to discuss the rapidly evolving role of artificial intelligence in advancing U.S. innovation, energy resilience, competitiveness and national security.
Researchers at ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility developed a mold-free 3D-printing process that combines origami-inspired design with hybrid composite materials to create lightweight, foldable structures.
ORNL and ACP Technologies have partnered for more than seven years to advance pitch-based materials for carbon fiber and synthetic graphite production, helping move the technology from laboratory research to pilot-scale manufacturing. Through work at ORNL and the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility, ACP refined its mesophase pitch materials and established a new pilot production facility in Kentucky, with a commercial-scale plant planned for 2029. The collaboration supports domestic supply chains for energy storage, transportation, aerospace, and defense applications.
A new high-temperature, 3D-printable aluminum alloy, developed by ORNL in less than three years rather than decades, redefines standards for high-performance automotive and aerospace components by offering performance improvements capable of saving billions in fuel costs.