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Catherine Schuman during Hour of Code

ORNL computer scientist Catherine Schuman returned to her alma mater, Harriman High School, to lead Hour of Code activities and talk to students about her job as a researcher.

ORNL, minority-serving institutions discuss partnership opportunities, showcase student research

Oak Ridge National Laboratory hosted a collaboration workshop Nov. 19-20 with faculty and students from 14 historically black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions, including Spelman College in Atlanta, Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Florida International University in Miami.

Power electronics research for the secondary battery energy storage system

Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed an innovative control system for repurposed electric vehicle battery packs to store electricity

Friederike Bock, a Eugene P. Wigner Fellow

Friederike Bock, a Eugene P. Wigner Fellow, wants everyone to know scientists aren’t just robots—they want to help others understand their research, and they have wide-ranging interests.

John Katsaras’s advances in technique, instrument and sample development for neutron and x-ray scattering have helped answer science questions about biological membranes.

John Katsaras, a biophysicist specializing in neutron scattering and the study of biological membranes at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, had a rather unusual birthday party last year.

The students analyzed diatom images like this one to compare wild and genetically modified strains of these organisms. Credit: Alison Pawlicki/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy.

Students often participate in internships and receive formal training in their chosen career fields during college, but some pursue professional development opportunities even earlier.

Nanofabricated “golden lollipop” helps researchers observe Fano interference using electron microscopy techniques at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Electrons in atoms are pretty talented. They can form chemical bonds, get kicked out of the atom and even “jump” to different locations based on their energetic states.

ORNL-created Chattanooga building energy models. Image Credit: Joshua New, ORNL

Buildings use 40 percent of America’s primary energy and 75 percent of its electricity, which can jump to 80 percent when a majority of the population is at home using heating or cooling systems and the seasons reach their extremes.

After studying the mixture of lead titanate and strontium titanate with x-ray diffraction imaging, the research team used machine learning techniques to identify two different phases at the nanoscale level: ferroelectric-ferroelastic (red, A) and polarization vortices (blue, V).

Beyond solids, liquids, gases, plasma, and other examples only accessible under extreme conditions, scientists are constantly searching for other states of matter.

SNS researchers

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory have new experimental evidence and a predictive theory that solves a long-standing materials science mystery: why certain crystalline materials shrink when heated.