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Neutrons facilities welcome 20,000th user
In August, the High Flux Isotope Reactor and the Spallation Neutron Source—both U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facilities at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory—reached a milestone with the arrival of Irina Nesmelova, the facilities’ 20,000th user. “We ...
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Just a few years ago, Emilio Ramirez spent his days operating and adjusting settings to optimize thermal performance at a Central California bioenergy power plant. Ramirez, a California native who is now a University of Tennessee doctoral candidate working with the Department of Energy's Oak Ridg...

Diana Hun likes ORNL's state-of-the-art facilities and range of expertise.

When Diana Hun left her home in Panama City, Panama, to attend school at the University of Texas in Austin, she knew she wanted to be an engineer. Exactly which branch of engineering to pursue was not quite as straight-forward. Hun studied both mechanical and electrical engin...

Theoretical condensed matter physicist Cristian Batista brings advanced knowledge of theory to expand upon the experimental physics research conducted at ORNL. (Image credit: Genevieve Martin)
Theory and experiment push each other to expand the frontiers of physics. Now, the Neutron Sciences Directorate at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has both. Cristian Batista, a theoretical condensed matter physicist with a joint appointment at ORNL and th...
Ron Graves (right) with fellow Tennessee Automotive Manufacturers Association Hall of Fame inductee former Gov. Phil Bredesen (left) and TAMA President Rick Youngblood.

Sitting in the driver’s seat comes naturally to Ron Graves, the recently retired head of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s sustainable transportation program. Graves has logged more than 100 days on national racetracks like Daytona, Road Atlanta, and Pocono where he routinely reache...

Simon Pallin

A scientist that sings opera and performs in musical theater? Sure. If you're a Renaissance Man like Simon Pallin. Pallin is a researcher in Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Buildings Technologies Research & Integration Center. But his early interests and activities reveal a versatile person that could have chosen a number of occupations.

Illustration shows the one dimensional Yb ion chain in the quantum magnet Yb2Pt2Pb. The Yb orbitals are depicted as the iso-surfaces, and the green arrows indicate the antiferromagnetically aligned Yb magnetic moments.
A new study by a multi-institutional team, led by researchers from Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University, has revealed exotic magnetic properties in a rare-earth based intermetallic compound. Similar studies suggest a better understanding of those types of behavio...
A 3D structure of the HIV-1 protease in cartoon representation with bound clinical drug darunavir (shown as sticks).
A team led by the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory used neutron analysis to better understand a protein implicated in the replication of HIV, the retrovirus that causes AIDS. The enzyme, known as HIV-1 protease, is a key drug target for HIV and AIDS therapies. &nbs...
Researchers used experimental data to create a 23.7-million atom biomass model featuring cellulose (purple), lignin (brown), and enzymes (green). (Image credit: Mike Matheson, ORNL)
Ask a biofuel researcher to name the single greatest technical barrier to cost-effective ethanol, and you’re likely to receive a one-word response: lignin. Cellulosic ethanol—fuel derived from woody plants and waste biomass—has the potential to become an affordable, renew...
In pure water, lignin adopts a globular conformation (left) that aggregates on cellulose and blocks enzymes. In a THF-water cosolvent, lignin adopts coil conformations (right) that are easier to remove during pretreatment.
When the Ford Motor Company’s first automobile, the Model T, debuted in 1908, it ran on a corn-derived biofuel called ethanol, a substance Henry Ford dubbed “the fuel of the future.”