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Adian Cook standing in front of GROVER autonomous bus

Arriving at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in late 2017 as a vehicle system engineer, Adian Cook could not foresee then that he would soon be the example of what happens to a research career when one is in the right place at the right time. But perfect timing is exactly what transpired for Cook as me...

From left, Amit Naskar, Ngoc Nguyen and Christopher Bowland in ORNL’s Carbon and Composites Group bring a new capability—structural health monitoring—to strong, lightweight materials promising for transportation applications.

Carbon fiber composites—lightweight and strong—are great structural materials for automobiles, aircraft and other transportation vehicles. They consist of a polymer matrix, such as epoxy, into which reinforcing carbon fibers have been embedded. Because of differences in the mecha...

Jason Richards

After more than a decade spent photographing scientific achievements at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Jason Richards has stepped out from behind the camera and into the lab, in a move that continues a career

L-R, Researchers Nils Stenvig, Isabelle Snyder and Travis Smith are developing tools and deploying sensors to aid decision-making as Puerto Rico rebuilds and modernizes its power grid.

As Puerto Rico works to restore and modernize its power grid after last year’s devastating hurricane season, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have stepped up to provide unique analysis, sensing and modeling tools to better inform decisions.

Philip Bingham

Philip Bingham has two pieces of advice for researchers new to Oak Ridge National Laboratory: (1) develop a skill set that can be applied to multiple research areas, and (2) get out and meet folks across the lab. “The favorite part of my work is that I’ve done a lot of very diffe...

Researchers with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have discovered that communities of microbes living in and around poplar tree roots are ten times more diverse than the human microbiome
Researchers with the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have discovered that communities of microbes living in and around poplar tree roots are ten times more diverse than the human microbiome and produce novel molecules that could be useful as antibiotics, anti-cancer drugs, or for agricultural applications.
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A novel technique that nudges single atoms to switch places within an atomically thin material could bring scientists another step closer to realizing theoretical physicist Richard Feynman’s vision of building tiny machines from the atom up.
A GRIDSMART traffic camera installed at an intersection in Leesburg, Virginia. Photo courtesy of GRIDSMART.

In a project leveraging computer vision, machine learning, and sensors, Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists are working with private company GRIDSMART Technologies, Inc. to demonstrate how stop lights can be programmed to improve fuel economy and reduce emissions.

Adding powdered silica (in blue container) to the polymer layer (white sheet) that separates electrodes inside a test battery (gold bag) will prevent lithium-ion battery fires. Credit: Gabriel Veith

Lithium-ion batteries commonly used in consumer electronics are notorious for bursting into flame when damaged or improperly packaged. These incidents occasionally have grave consequences, including burns, house fires and at least one plane crash.

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Mircea Podar has travelled around the world and to the bottom of the ocean in pursuit of scientific discoveries, but it is the uncharted territory he encounters when working with new microbes that inspires his research at ORNL.