Dr. Gabe Xu wins $75K McMahon-Pleiad Prize from University of Alabama System in recognition of research contributions

Dr. Gabe Xu, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the College of Engineering at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), has been selected to receive the 2023 University of Alabama (UA) System McMahon-Pleiad Prize.

California Group Exploring Viability of a Community-Centered Direct Air Capture Hub

Researchers from Berkeley Lab are co-leading a project to explore the creation of a direct air capture facility that uses cutting-edge technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in California’s Southern San Joaquin Valley.

UAH to feature AI, cybersecurity, directed energy, aerial systems and more at 2023 Space & Missile Defense Symposium

The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System, will highlight its extensive capabilities in artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, directed energy, information systems, rotorcraft systems, supply chain management and hypersonics during the Space & Missile Defense (SMD) Symposium at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Department of Energy User Facility Launches Platform for Analyzing Biological and Environmental Research Data

The Department of Energy’s Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) has launched the Data Transformations Integrated Research Platform to help researchers transform their scientific data into more manageable sets of information, improve data accessibility and reproducibility, and facilitate the creation of models and visualization tools that help tell a larger story from the data.

UAH gains $617K funding for two Department of Energy atmospheric research grants aimed to improve climate models

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that researchers at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) have been awarded two projects designed to investigate the characteristics and evolution of convective clouds through advanced modeling. The projects are aimed at improving the capabilities of Earth system models to predict weather and climate changes.

UA Little Rock Receives $1 Million Grant to Protect Against Energy-Focused Cyberattacks

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock and its partners announced the expansion of the Emerging Threat Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ET-ISAC) to further strengthen the fight against the escalating threat of cybersecurity attacks in the energy sector. This new project adds to the already operational Forge Institute Emerging Threat Center and enables purposeful collaboration to expand operational capabilities and enhance regional threat information sharing.

Department of Energy and NASA Join Forces on Innovative Lunar Experiment

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are working together to develop a science instrument that will survive the harsh and unforgiving environment of the nighttime lunar surface on the far side of the Moon to attempt first-of-its-kind measurements of the so-called Dark Ages of the Universe.

Skyrmions on the Rise – New 2D Material Advances Low-Power Computing

A team co-led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has discovered a new ultrathin material with exotic magnetic features called skyrmions. The new material could enable the next generation of tiny, fast, energy-efficient electronic devices.

Nation’s first quantum startup accelerator, Duality, launches at the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center and the Chicago Quantum Exchange

The University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the Chicago Quantum Exchange today announced the launch of Duality, the first accelerator program in the nation that is exclusively dedicated to startup companies focused on quantum science and technology—a rapidly emerging area that is poised to drive transformative advances across multiple industries.

Polystyrene waste is everywhere; scientists just found a way to break it down

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and their partners from Clemson University have discovered a green, low-energy process to break down polystyrene, a type of plastic that is widely used in foam packaging materials, disposable food containers, cutlery, and many other applications.

Building a Giant 2D Map of the Universe to Prepare for the Largest 3D Map

Before DESI, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, can begin its 5-year mission from an Arizona mountaintop to produce the largest 3D sky map yet, researchers first needed an even bigger 2D map of the universe.

UCI scientists measure local vibrational modes at individual crystalline faults

Irvine, Calif., Jan. 11, 2021 – Often admired for their flawless appearance to the naked eye, crystals can have defects at the nanometer scale, and these imperfections may affect the thermal and heat transport properties of crystalline materials used in a variety of high-technology devices. Employing newly developed electron microscopy techniques, researchers at the University of California, Irvine and other institutions have, for the first time, measured the spectra of phonons – quantum mechanical vibrations in a lattice – at individual crystalline faults, and they discovered the propagation of phonons near the flaws.

Major upgrade to Fermilab accelerator complex gets green light

The U.S. Department of Energy has formally approved the scope, schedule and cost of the PIP-II project at Fermilab. The PIP-II accelerator will become the heart of Fermilab’s upgraded accelerator complex, delivering more powerful proton beams to the lab’s experiments and enabling deeper probes of the fundamental constituents of the universe.

Charges Cascading Along a Molecular Chain

Removing one charged molecule from a one-dimensional array causes the others to alternately turn ‘on’ or ‘off,’ paving the way for information transfer in tiny circuits

ATLAS Experiment Upgrade Wins DOE Project Management Award

In recognition of project management excellence, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded the U.S. ATLAS Phase I Detector Upgrade team, led by DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University, with the Secretary’s Achievement Award. The upgrade is one of only three projects to be honored with a DOE project management award this year.

Lead Lab Selected for Next-Generation Cosmic Microwave Background Experiment

The largest collaborative undertaking yet to explore the relic light emitted by the infant universe has taken a step forward with the U.S. DOE’s selection of Berkeley Lab to lead the partnership of national labs, universities, and other institutions that are joined in the effort to carry out the DOE roles and responsibilities.

2D Electronics Get an Atomic Tuneup

Scientists at Berkeley Lab have demonstrated a new technique that could improve the performance of atomically thin semiconductors for next-generation electronics such as optoelectronics, thermoelectrics, and sensors.

New NSF Physics Frontier Center Will Focus on Neutron Star Modeling in ‘Gravitational Wave Era’

A new Physics Frontier Center at UC Berkeley, supported by the National Science Foundation, expands the reach and depth of existing capabilities on campus and at neighboring Berkeley Lab in modeling one of the most violent events in the universe: the merger of neutron stars and its explosive aftermath.

Three Fermilab scientists receive DOE Early Career Research Awards

The Department of Energy’s Office of Science has selected three Fermilab scientists to receive the 2020 DOE Early Career Research Award, now in its 11th year. The prestigious award is designed to bolster the nation’s scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early years, when many scientists do their most formative work.

Laser, Biosciences Researchers Combine Efforts to Study Viruses in Droplets

Laser and biology experts at Berkeley Lab are working together to develop a platform and experiments to study the structure and components of viruses like the one causing COVID-19, and to learn how viruses interact with their surrounding environment. The experiments could provide new insight on how to reduce the infectiousness of viruses.

Major upgrades of particle detectors and electronics prepare CERN experiment to stream a data tsunami

For an experiment that will generate big data at unprecedented rates, physicists led design, development, mass production and delivery of an upgrade of novel particle detectors and state-of-the art electronics.

University of Utah exceeds federal energy reduction commitment

The U.S. Department of Energy confirmed the University of Utah has exceeded its goal to reduce energy use by 20 percent by 2020, as part of the Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge. The U achieved energy savings of 25% across 17 million square feet of building space since 2008, the base year for the commitment.

What’s MER? It’s a way to measure quantum materials, and it’s telling us new and interesting things

Experimental physicists have combined several measurements of quantum materials into one in their ongoing quest to learn more about manipulating and controlling the behavior of them for possible applications. They even coined a term for it– Magneto-elastoresistance, or MER.

Milestone in Advanced Light Source Upgrade Project Will Bring in a New Ring

An upgrade of the Advanced Light Source, a synchrotron at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), has passed an important milestone that will help to maintain the ALS’ world-leading capabilities. On Dec. 23 the DOE granted approval for a key funding step that will allow the project to start construction on a new inner electron storage ring known as an accumulator ring.

Decoding plant chatter could lead to stronger crops

Researchers will use a $2.25 federal grant to study how cells communicate within plants, and between plants and pathogens, to develop crops that are resilient to disease and other stresses. The work also could play a role in reengineering plants and microbes to improve biofuel production.

Danforth Center to Lead DOE-Funded Research to Harness Untapped Reservoir of Plant Genes in Quest for Bioenergy Crops

The U.S. Department of Energy has selected Danforth Center Principal Investigator James Umen, Ph.D., to lead a multi-institutional collaboration that will predict functions for hundreds of uncharacterized plant genes that could be important to stress tolerance in a range of potential bioenergy crops.

Knowledgebase is power for nuclear reactor developers

Six new nuclear reactor technologies are planned to commercially deploy between 2030 and 2040. ORNL’s Weiju Ren heads a project managing structural materials information. This conversation explores challenges and opportunities in sharing nuclear materials knowledge internationally.