Polyphase wireless power transfer system achieves 270-kilowatt charge, s...
Simulating the global climate in high resolution at multiple scales will help answer questions about future global and regional climates. However, as performance expectations increase for Earth system models, so do computing challenges. Salil Mahajan, a computational climate sci...
Mindy Clark’s enthusiasm for plant biology has only grown from her time in the classroom at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) to her years working in greenhouse operations for private industry and more recently at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory....
Working backwards has moved Josh Michener’s research far forward as he uses evolution and genetics to engineer microbes for better conversion of plants into biofuels and biochemicals. In his work for the BioEnergy Science Center at ORNL, for instance, “we’ve gotten good at engineering microbes th...
Joshua New has an ambitious goal to increase the nation’s efficient use of energy: he wants to create a model of every building in America. All 130 million of them. For now, Joshua and his colleagues in the Building Envelope and Urban Systems group are creating virtual models of the buildings in ...
Tara Pandya’s interest in nuclear engineering began with a literal flash of inspiration.
Pandya originally aspired to become a musician or a music teacher, but grew to love math and physics the more she learned about them. When it came time for college, she wanted to find a progr...
It’s been 10 years since the US Department of Energy first established a BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and researcher Gerald “Jerry” Tuskan has used that time and the lab’s and center’s resources and tools
During the workday, Anthony Walker spends considerable time designing models to advance our understanding of Earth’s biological systems. In the evenings and on weekends, he takes a more hands-on approach to the natural world, whether working in his garden or out kayaking on...
Finding new energy uses for underrated materials is a recurring theme across Amit Naskar’s research portfolio. Since joining Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2006, he has studied low-cost polymers as carbon fiber precursors, turning lignin−a byproduct of biofuel production−into renewable thermoplastics and creating carbon battery electrodes from recycled tires.
At the heart of Hector Santos-Villalobos’ work is the need to get a better look at the unknown, whether it is the structure of an underground geothermal reservoir, meter-thick concrete surrounding a nuclear reactor, or the fine details of the human eye. It may seem appropriate, then,...
Growing up in South Carolina, Ryan McManamay enjoyed a nature-rich upbringing. Both of his parents are retired teachers from the public school system and instilled in him early an appreciation for immersive learning as well as a love of the outdoors. His father, a biology teacher,...