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Two ORNL researchers inspect carbon fiber materials - one black rectangular sheet and one see-through sheet of film.

Researchers at ORNL have developed an innovative new technique using carbon nanofibers to enhance binding in carbon fiber and other fiber-reinforced polymer composites – an advance likely to improve structural materials for automobiles, airplanes and other applications that require lightweight and strong materials. 

Using a toolpath strategy for weight reduction, two near-net shape dies were manufactured using a gas metal arc welding additive manufacturing process at the Lincoln Electric Additive Solutions facility. Credit: Lincoln Electric

Recent advancements at ORNL show that 3D-printed metal molds offer a faster, more cost-effective and flexible approach to producing large composite components for mass-produced vehicles than traditional tooling methods.

Illustration of a real-time simulation showing a metallic nanoparticle’s optical response to light using RT-TDDFT. The image depicts electron oscillations and surrounding electromagnetic fields. Four inset panels represent applications: plasmon-enhanced biosensing, quantum computing, photochemical catalysis, and cancer detection through photothermal therapy.

A research team from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in collaboration with North Carolina State University, has developed a simulation capable of predicting how tens of thousands of electrons move in materials in real time, or natural time rather than compute time.

Illustration of the GRETA detector, a spherical array of metal cylinders. The detector is divided into two halves to show the inside of the machine. Both halves are attached to metal harnesses, displayed against a black and green cyber-themed background.

Analyzing massive datasets from nuclear physics experiments can take hours or days to process, but researchers are working to radically reduce that time to mere seconds using special software being developed at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley and Oak Ridge national laboratories.  

Image of the Frontier supercomputer in black with Frontier spelled out across the cabinets in front.

Research teams at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory received computing resource awards to train and test AI foundation models for science. A total of six ORNL projects were awarded allocations from the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource, or NAIRR, pilot and the Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment, or INCITE, program to train their AI models.

Green and blue background of a graphic image that says Honors and Awards

Mariam Kiran, a quantum research scientist at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was recently honored as a finalist at the British Council’s Study U.K. Alumni Awards 2025, which celebrate the achievements of U.K. alumni worldwide.

Research scientist Daniel Jacobson is standing with his arms crossed with a dark black backdrop

Daniel Jacobson, distinguished research scientist in the Biosciences Division at ORNL, has been elected a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, or AIMBE, for his achievements in computational biology. 

Illustration of a quantum experiment: atoms in a lattice (inset) with entanglement effects radiating from a central particle on a textured surface.

Working at nanoscale dimensions, billionths of a meter in size, a team of scientists led by ORNL revealed a new way to measure high-speed fluctuations in magnetic materials. Knowledge obtained by these new measurements could be used to advance technologies ranging from traditional computing to the emerging field of quantum computing. 

ORNL R&D data scientist Max Pasini is posing for a portrait with a blue background, black button up long sleeve shirt

Massimiliano (Max) Lupo Pasini, an R&D data scientist from ORNL, was awarded the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center’s High Performance Computing Achievement Award for High Impact Scientific Achievement for his work in “Groundbreaking contributions to scientific machine learning, particularly through the development of HydraGNN.”

ORNL researcher Melissa Cregger is standing outside smiling for a photo. Woman is wearing blue and white polka dot shirt with a purple cardigan.

Melissa Cregger of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Science and Engineers, or PECASE, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on outstanding early-career scientists and engineers.