Katy Bradford: Cassette approach offers compelling construction solution
For the first time, ORNL will run equipment developed at its research facilities on a commercially available quantum network at EPB Quantum Network powered by Qubitekk to help validate the technology's commercial viability.
Katy Bradford is on a mission to revolutionize the construction industry and is the founder of Cassette Construction, a company in the newest cohort of Innovation Crossroads, a DOE Lab-Embedded Entrepreneurship Program node at ORNL. As an Innovation Crossroads fellow, Bradford and her company will receive technical, financial and networking support to successfully advance the company’s products to the marketplace.
A team led by scientists at ORNL identified and demonstrated a method to process a plant-based material called nanocellulose that reduced energy needs by a whopping 21%, using simulations on the lab’s supercomputers and follow-on analysis.
As a mechanical engineer in building envelope materials research at ORNL, Bryan Maldonado sees opportunities to apply his scientific expertise virtually everywhere he goes, from coast to coast. As an expert in understanding how complex systems operate, he’s using machine learning methods to control the process and ultimately optimize performance.
ORNL is the lead partner on five research collaborations with private fusion companies in the 2024 cohort of the Innovation Network for FUSion Energy, or INFUSE, program. These collaborative projects are intended to resolve technical hurdles and develop enabling technologies to accelerate fusion energy research in the private sector.
Flexcon Global has exclusively licensed two patented inventions to manufacture a self-healing barrier film from ORNL for research and development purposes. The film can be incorporated into vacuum insulation panels to increase the efficiency of buildings during retrofits. Under a cooperative research and development agreement that began in 2021, Flexcon and ORNL have been exploring the capabilities of the technology and fine-tuning its properties.
ORNL’s Joshua New was named the 2024 Researcher of the Year by R&D World magazine as part of its R&D 100 Professional Award winners.
A digital construction platform in development at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is boosting the retrofitting of building envelopes and giving builders the tools to automate the process from design to installation with the assistance of a cable-driven robotic crane.
A study by more than a dozen scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory examines potential strategies to integrate quantum computing with the world’s most powerful supercomputing systems in the pursuit of science.
Researchers at ORNL recently demonstrated an automated drone-inspection technology at EPB of Chattanooga that will allow utilities to more quickly and easily check remote power lines for malfunctions, catching problems before outages occur.