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Media Contacts
![Starch granules](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-02/starchgranules.png?h=0c9ab501&itok=eLsE3JOx)
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new method to peer deep into the nanostructure of biomaterials without damaging the sample. This novel technique can confirm structural features in starch, a carbohydrate important in biofuel production.
![To understand the electronic structures of solids and predict their properties, ORNL’s Valentino Cooper uses density functional theory (DFT), which models how many electrons are in a region rather than where those electrons are. “DFT essentially presents one electron existing in a ‘sea foam’ and tells how dense that foam is,” he said. Credit: Carlos Jones/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-02/2019-P18109_0.jpg?h=aa35fa95&itok=t045nmpS)
Valentino (“Tino”) Cooper of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory uses theory, modeling and computation to improve fundamental understanding of advanced materials for next-generation energy and information technologies.
![Edge computing is both dependent on and greatly influencing a host of promising technologies including (clockwise from top left): quantum computing; high-performance computing; neuromorphic computing; and carbon nanotubes.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-02/Jones%20image%202-12-20.png?h=2e876d46&itok=fT3y4uz9)
We have a data problem. Humanity is now generating more data than it can handle; more sensors, smartphones, and devices of all types are coming online every day and contributing to the ever-growing global dataset.
![Examples from the ORNL Overhead Vehicle Dataset, generated with images captured by GRIDSMART cameras. Image: Thomas Karnowski/ORNL](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-02/truckgrid-corrected-1024x745.png?h=bc62b519&itok=HY9xstgl)
Each year, approximately 6 billion gallons of fuel are wasted as vehicles wait at stop lights or sit in dense traffic with engines idling, according to US Department of Energy estimates.
![Ben Betzler, a reactor physics nuclear engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-02/Betzler200_0.jpg?h=854a7be2&itok=zIgLNjU3)
As a reactor physics nuclear engineer, Ben Betzler leverages and develops computational methods to solve questions across nuclear energy—whether it’s finding the best design of a reactor core or repurposing an old tool for a new analysis.
![The image visualizes how the team’s multitask convolutional neural network classifies primary cancer sites. Image credit: Hong-Jun Yoon/ORNL](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-02/shot_0.png?h=49ab6177&itok=IXL5Ingy)
As the second-leading cause of death in the United States, cancer is a public health crisis that afflicts nearly one in two people during their lifetime.
![Peter Wang](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-01/2019-P18026_0.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=_gPTJOy-)
Peter Wang is focused on robotics and automation at the Department of Energy’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL, working on high-profile projects such as the MedUSA, a large-scale hybrid additive manufacturing machine.
![Chris Ellis is applying his expertise in computational biology and microbiology to explore the human and soil microbiomes for clues to degenerative brain disease, as well as pathways to improved bioenergy crops.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-01/EllisJacket1_0.jpg?h=50a46087&itok=9Nk0DaYN)
After several years in the private sector exploring the unknown origins of neurodegenerative brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s, Chris Ellis thinks one of the keys to solving the mystery is at Oak Ridge National Laboratory: the world’s most powerful supercomputer.
![microscope lens and lithium battery prototype](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-01/Lithium%20Battery%20Research%2020183101_6400_0.jpg?h=58c8a5e7&itok=v-7_CmEt)
The formation of lithium dendrites is still a mystery, but materials engineers study the conditions that enable dendrites and how to stop them.
![Researchers in ORNL’s Quantum Information Science group summarized their significant contributions to quantum networking and quantum computing in a special issue of Optics & Photonics News. Image credit: Christopher Tison and Michael Fanto/Air Force Research Laboratory.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2020-01/DSC02403_0.jpg?h=da4d8213&itok=o3kOwP6p)
A team from the ORNL has conducted a series of experiments to gain a better understanding of quantum mechanics and pursue advances in quantum networking and quantum computing, which could lead to practical applications in cybersecurity and other areas.