Oak Ridge National Laboratory - Author at Oak Ridge Today

Research effort deep under ground could sort out cosmic-scale mysteries

May 24, 2013 By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

The Majorana Demonstrator is being assembled and stored 4,850 feet beneath the earth’s surface in enriched copper to limit the amount of background interference from cosmic rays and radioactive isotopes. (Submitted image)

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory has begun delivery of germanium-76 detectors to an underground laboratory in South Dakota in a team research effort that might explain the puzzling imbalance between matter and antimatter generated by the Big Bang.

“It might explain why we’re here at all,” said David Radford, who oversees specific ORNL activities in the Majorana Demonstrator research effort. “It could help explain why the matter that we are made of exists.”

Radford, a researcher in ORNL’s Physics Division and an expert in germanium detectors, has been delivering germanium-76 to Sanford Underground Research Laboratory in Lead, S.D., for the project. After navigating a Valentine’s Day blizzard on the first two-day drive from Oak Ridge, Radford made a second delivery in March. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Advanced Measurement Technology, AMETEK, antimatter, Big Bang, David Radford, Electrochemical Systems Inc., ESI, germanium detectors, germanium-76, germanium-76 detectors, John Wilkerson, Majorana Demonstrator, matter, National Science Foundation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Nuclear Physics, ORNL, ORTEC, Physics Division, Sanford Underground Research Laboratory, SURF, U.S. Department of Energy

Two ORNL researchers, two joint faculty receive DOE early career awards

May 10, 2013 By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

Pictured from top left, clockwise, are Valentino Cooper, Gaute Hagen, Matthias Schindler, and Jason Hayward. They are 2013 awardees in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Program. (Submitted photo)

Materials science and physics research led by early career Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists received a boost this week from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science Early Career Research Program.

The program, now in its fourth year, is designed to bolster the nation’s scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during crucial early career years when many scientists do their most formative work. This year’s 61 awardees were selected from a pool of 770 university- and national laboratory-based applicants.

“This highly competitive program is a well-deserved recognition for early-career scientists who are launching their own research programs,” ORNL Director Thom Mason said. “We are delighted that four of this year’s awards are going to researchers associated with ORNL.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories Tagged With: computation, DOE, Early Career Research Program, Gaute Hagen, hadronic parity violation, Jason Hayward, materials science, Materials Science and Technology Division, Matthias Schindler, neutron imaging, neutron scattering, nuclear decay, Nuclear Security and Isotope Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Science, ORNL, perovskite oxide, physics, Physics Division, researchers, scientists, SNS, Spallation Neutron Source, Thom Mason, U.S. Department of Energy, University of South Carolina, University of Tennessee, Valentino Cooper

ORNL analysis predicts extreme weather losses could double by 2050

May 2, 2013 By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

By Katie Elyce Freeman

U.S. economic losses from extreme weather could at least double by 2050, according to an Oak Ridge National Laboratory analysis published this month in the online edition of the journal Global Environmental Change.

“A side effect of America’s growth has been the tendency to put more people, infrastructure and assets in harm’s way, and when a storm comes through, that increased exposure drives up economic losses,” said author Benjamin Preston, deputy director of ORNL’s Climate Change Science Institute, who studied historical data from more than 3,000 U.S. counties and used predictive modeling in the assessment. Preston works in impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability science, a field devoted to analyzing the effects of climate change on people, governments and industries. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories Tagged With: Benjamin Preston, climate change, Climate Change Science Institute, damage, disaster losses, economic losses, extreme weather, Global Environmental Change, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Laboratory Directed Research and Development, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL

Hardin Valley Academy senior wins four-year UT-Battelle scholarship

April 29, 2013 By Oak Ridge National Laboratory 2 Comments

Meredith Graves, a senior at Hardin Valley Academy and winner of the 2013 UT-Battelle Scholarship, is pictured above with Thom Mason, Oak Ridge National Laboratory director. (Submitted photo)

Meredith Graves, a senior at Hardin Valley Academy, is the recipient of the 2013 UT-Battelle Scholarship to the University of Tennessee.

The four-year, $20,000 scholarship, presented annually to a graduating senior with a parent who works at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is awarded annually to an outstanding student who plans to study science, engineering, or mathematics at the University of Tennessee.

Graves, daughter of Van and René Graves of Knoxville, has already been accepted into the University of Tennessee’s Bachelor of Architecture program, where she hopes to apply her interest in STEM-related fields to the design of energy efficient and environmentally friendly structures. [Read more...]

Filed Under: College, Education, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories Tagged With: architecture, Hardin Valley Academy, Meredith Graves, Nuclear Science and Engineering Directorate, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, scholarship, University of Tennessee, UT-Battelle, UT-Battelle Scholarship, Van Graves

ORNL researchers elected American Physical Society fellows

April 17, 2013 By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

Xiaoguang Zhang and Eliot Specht have been named American Physical Society fellows. (Submitted photo)

Two researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been elected to fellowship in the American Physical Society.

Xiaoguang Zhang and Eliot Specht were named APS fellows in recognition of their outstanding contributions to physics.

APS fellowship is limited to no more than 0.5 percent per year of the society’s more than 50,000 members. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories Tagged With: American Physical Society, APS, Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences Division, Computer Sciences and Mathematics Division, crystallographic alignment, Eliot Specht, high-temperature superconductors, magnetic tunnel junctions, Material Sciences and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, physics, scattering theory, Xiaoguang Zhang

ORNL leading study focused on afterlife of electric vehicle batteries

April 16, 2013 By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

Once they’ve finished powering electric vehicles for hundreds of thousands of miles, it may not be the end of the road for automotive batteries, which researchers believe can provide continued benefits for consumers, automakers, and the environment.

Five used Chevrolet Volt batteries are at the heart of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s effort to determine the feasibility of a community energy storage system that would put electricity onto the grid. During the next year, researchers from ORNL, General Motors, and the ABB Group will conduct studies and compile data using a first-of-its-kind test platform officially commissioned Tuesday. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories Tagged With: ABB Group, automotive batteries, batteries, battery systems engineering, Bill Wallace, Chevrolet Volt, electric vehicle batteries, Energy and Transportation Science Division, Energy Storage Research Program, General Motors, George Andrews, GM, Imre Gyuk, lithium ion batteries, Michael Starke, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability, ORNL, Power and Energy Systems Group, U.S. Department of Energy

ORNL’s Richard Haire receives American Chemical Society’s Seaborg Award

April 14, 2013 By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

Retired Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher and UT-Battelle Corporate Fellow Richard Haire has received the 2013 Glenn T. Seaborg Award by the American Chemical Society. The Seaborg Award is one of the top recognitions in the field of nuclear chemistry.

Known for his forefront, fundamental studies of the actinide family of elements, Haire, while at ORNL, concentrated on the transplutonium elements produced in the U.S. Department of Energy research reactor, the High Flux Isotope Reactor, or HFIR. He developed novel experimental techniques and emphasized the use of systematic comparisons, which focused on the role of electron configurations in the chemistry and physics of these elements. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories Tagged With: actinide, American Chemical Society, einsteinium, fermium, Glenn T. Seaborg Award, HFIR, High Flux Isotope Reactor, John Gibson, nuclear chemistry, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, researcher, Richard Haire, Thom Mason, transplutonium, transplutonium elements, U.S. Department of Energy, UT-Battelle Corporate Fellow

ORNL’s awake imaging device moves diagnostics field forward

April 8, 2013 By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

A technology being developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory promises to provide clear images of the brains of children, the elderly, and people with Parkinson’s and other diseases without the use of uncomfortable or intrusive restraints.

Awake imaging provides motion compensation reconstruction, which removes blur caused by motion, allowing physicians to get a transparent picture of the functioning brain without anesthetics that can mask conditions and alter test results. The use of anesthetics, patient restraints, or both is not ideal because they can trigger brain activities that may alter the normal brain functions being studied. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories Tagged With: awake imaging, brains, Conscious, DaTSCAN, Jim Goddard, Johns Hopkins University, Justin Baba, Measurement Science and Systems Engineering Division, motion compensation reconstruction, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, The Journal of Nuclear Medicine, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Laboratory, Unrestrained Molecular Imaging of Mice with AwakeSPECT

ORNL researchers receive professional society honors

April 3, 2013 By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

Carol Wood

A.C. Buchanan III

Three researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory have received appointments and honors from their respective professional societies.

ORNL’s Carol Wood has been elected to a four-year term on the board of directors of the American Board of Toxicology. She is a senior research staff member in the Environmental Sciences Division at ORNL.

Wood was elected from more than 40 nominees. Ernest McConnell, president of ToxPath Inc., a former board member who served as president of the ABT board from 1987 to 1988, nominated her for the award. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories Tagged With: 2013 Henry H. Storch Award in Fuel Science, A.C. Buchanan III, American Board of Toxicology, American Chemical Society, Carol Wood, Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Chemical Sciences Division, Environmental Sciences Division, Nina Balke, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, professional societies, researchers, Robert L. Coble Award for Young Scholars

Local FIRST robotics teams dominate regionals, advance to national competition

April 2, 2013 By Oak Ridge National Laboratory 2 Comments

From left, Oak Ridge High School’s Andreas Franco feeds discs into the team’s robot as Tag Groff, Oak Ridge National Laboratory mentor Mark Buckner, and Amelia DiAngelo manage the controls. (Photo by Jason Richards/ORNL)

Frisbee-flinging robots took over the Knoxville Convention Center last weekend, as thousands of high school students, mentors, and volunteers gathered for the third annual FIRST robotics Smoky Mountains regional competition.

Local teams Hardin Valley Academy, Oak Ridge High School, and Halls High School netted the championship title in a nail-biting finale at the regional event, qualifying them to compete in the national finals held April 24-27 in St. Louis. A team from Roane County High School, which won the Rookie All Star award, is also bound for nationals. The four high schools are among 14 teams sponsored by UT-Battelle, the managing contractor of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The FIRST robotics competition gives high school teams six weeks to design, build, and program a complex robot that can meet the intense demands of the year’s game. Throwing discs and climbing pyramids were among the challenges of the 2013 game, called Ultimate Ascent. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, K-12, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories Tagged With: 2013 FIRST robotics competition, Blount County, Catholic High School, championship, Craig Blue, FIRST Dean's List Finalist, FIRST Robotics, Halls High School, Hardin Valley Academy, Heritage High School, Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, Mark Buckner, Maryville High School, Oak Ridge High School, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Quality Award, regional competition, Roane County High School, Rookie All Star, Sydney Buckner, Ultimate Ascent, UT-Battelle

ORNL recognizes small business subcontractors and supporters

March 27, 2013 By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge National Laboratory honored seven small businesses and their supporters at its annual small business awards ceremony on March 22. The winning firms were nominated by ORNL staff in recognition of the companies’ exceptional service during the 2012 fiscal year.

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann and John Hale, deputy director of DOE’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization in the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, were guest speakers at the breakfast event. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories Tagged With: Advent IT Group, awards ceremony, Burgoon Co., Cassandra McGee Stuart, CG Services, DAVCOM, Dayenesi Inc., Disabled American Veterans Company LLC, Electronic Workflow and Knowledge Management Network, ESG Construction LLC, John Hale, Keith Joy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, ORNL, small business, Steve Hinton, Wrightlink Consulting

Manufacturing tech, forest monitoring system win tech transfer awards

March 22, 2013 By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

Technologies from Oak Ridge National Laboratory are among winners of 2013 national and regional Federal Laboratory Consortium Awards.

ORNL’s awards, which recognize outstanding work in transferring a federal laboratory-developed technology to the commercial marketplace, were in the Excellence in Technology Transfer and Interagency Partnerships categories. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories Tagged With: awards, cooperative forest management, early warning system, Excellence in Technology Transfer, Federal Laboratory Consortium Awards, ForWarn, Interagency Partnerships, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NovaCentrix, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, PTP, Pulse Thermal Processing, PulseForge, tech transfer, thin film structures, U.S. Forest Service, United States Geological Survey