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ORNL, Siemens join NREL, PNNL in grid modernization research
ORNL will pursue advanced power systems research with Siemens Corporation, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory as part of a memorandum of understanding signed at DOE's Innovation XLab Grid Modernization Summit in Seattle. The agreement facilitates integrated experiments to test and validate new software and hardware technologies to strengthen the grid, particularly for novel power electronic devices such as inverters for solar panels and electric vehicles. ORNL showcased its extensive R&D program in grid security and resilience at the XLab Summit, a DOE event series that brings together the national labs and industry to foster collaboration in strategic research and development areas.
Pictured, L-R: Moe Khaleel with NREL Director Martin Keller, Siemens USA CEO Barbara Humpton, and PNNL Director Steve Ashby. Photo courtesy of Andrea Starr, PNNL.
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Director's Message
February 7, 2019 | January marked a busy start to 2019. We successfully presented our grid security and resilience work at DOE's Innovation XLab Grid Modernization Summit in Seattle, culminating in an MOU with Siemens focusing on advanced power electronics (details above). We're looking forward to working with Siemens, NREL and PNNL under the agreement to develop breakthroughs in areas such as electronics for energy storage and renewable energy. It's also worth noting that DOE's next Innovation XLab Summit will be hosted at ORNL with a focus on advanced manufacturing. I'll be sharing more news about this as we firm up details.
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The lab leadership team kicked off the new year with a long-range planning session to review our critical business priorities and layout actions for the coming months as we enter the FY 2020 budget planning cycle. While we are making progress in our efforts to reach across to colleagues in other organizations, it's important that we continue pursuing opportunities for engagement on our important scientific work.
During the month I also traveled to North Carolina State University on a recruiting trip, to Clemson University to discuss potential collaborations, and I met with colleagues from the University of Maine in D.C. to brief our DOE sponsor in the Building Technologies Office on new frontiers in building envelopes utilizing cross laminated timber building systems. While in D.C., Habib Dagher, executive director of the Advanced Structures & Composites Center at the University of Maine and I were invited by Maine Senators Susan Collins and Angus King to provide an update on our ongoing collaboration in the development of wood products for composites manufacturing and more broadly on the technical and business progress of our partnership. We also hosted a protocol visit with Katherine Banks, vice chancellor of Engineering and National Laboratories, and Dean of Engineering at Texas A&M University to explore opportunities for collaboration.
Innovation Crossroads is narrowing the list of semi-finalists for the third cohort of energy entrepreneurs among an impressive field of candidates. We had 60 applicants for the program in this round, representing 28 states and 39 universities. Of those 60, the top 21 competed in January in the semi-finals. The final round of interviews will be held in late February, with up to 6 candidates to be chosen under the merit-based process. Congratulations to Tom Rogers and Dan Miller on their impressive outreach efforts.
I enjoyed the first of our EESD Energy Talks in January by Melissa Cregger and Omar Demerdash, and the cross-disciplinary discussion that resulted from these informative presentations. I am looking forward to the next talks in the series. The February seminar will feature Heather Buckberry discussing our work in transactive controls and the neighborhood of the future, and Veda Galigekere presenting our groundbreaking work in extreme fast wireless charging. The seminar will take place on Thursday, Feb. 14, at 3 p.m. in the Weinberg Auditorium in Building 4500-North on the main campus. Please take the opportunity to hear about your colleagues' work, with an eye toward opportunities for collaboration.
Congratulations to Eric Pierce, who has been chosen for the DOE Oppenheimer Science and Energy Leadership Program. The program was developed to introduce the next generation of leaders to the breadth and depth of the national laboratory system.
Kudos also to Boualem Hadjerioua, who has been elected fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers for his work advancing technologies that address the challenges and opportunities in the use of water and energy resources.
As we set our priorities for the new calendar year, I encourage you to continue engaging your division director, group leader, and other colleagues to share new ideas for recruiting. The energy, ideas and experiences that new staff bring to our organization will help us form the best teams in order to reach our goal of becoming the world's premier research institution.
We've already had some of the coldest weather of the year and have another month of winter to go on the calendar despite this week's warmer temperatures. Please keep safety in mind as you move about on campus, on the road, and at home in cold weather, including awareness of the hazards that snow and ice can bring. —Moe
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Lund University professor Frederik Ossler (pictured above) and colleagues at ORNL are using ORNL's neutron scattering capabilities to study biomass fuels. Read more
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The Transportation Energy Data Book: Edition 37, produced for DOE's Vehicle Technologies Office by ORNL researchers in the Transportation Planning and Decision Science Group, is now available online. In the latest edition, ORNL notes that transportation accounts for 29% of total U.S. energy consumption and 15.8% of total household expenditures, while the average household vehicle logs 11,200 miles/year. Read more
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Environmental Science & Technology
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Nitrous oxide is a potent inhibitor of bacterial reductive dechlorination | Yongchao Yin, Jun Yan, Gao Chen, Fadime Kara Murdoch, Nina Pfisterer, Frank E. Loffler. 18 December 2018. Read more
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Soil Biology and Biochemistry
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Soil moisture drives microbial controls on carbon decomposition in two subtropical forests | Melanie A. Mayes, Gangsheng Wang, Wenjuan Huang, Xiaodong Liu, Deqiang Zhang, Qianmei Zhang, Tianfeng Han, Guoyi Zhou. 20 December 2018. Read more
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International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology
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Threshold angle and valid fracture of the sectored flexural specimen | Brian A. Olstad, Andrew A. Wereszczak, Branndon R. Chen, Osama M. Jadaan. January 2019 Read more
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Arctic vegetation mapping using unsupervised training datasets and convolutional neural networks| Zachary L. Langford, Jitendra Kumar, Forrest M. Hoffman, Amy L. Breen, Colleen M. Iversen. 02 January 2019. Read more
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Arabinose substitution effect on xylan rigidity and self-aggregation | Utsab R. Shrestha, Sydney Smith, Sai Venkatesh Pingali, Hui Yang, Mai Zahran, Lloyd Breunig, Liza A. Wilson, Margaret Kowali, James D. Kubicki, Daniel J. Cosgrove, Hugh M. O'Neill, Loukas Petridis. 03 January 2019. Read more
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Proceedings of the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
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Microgrid disaster resiliency analysis: Reducing costs in continuity of operations planning | Robert K. Abercrombie, T. Benjamin Ollis, Frederick T. Sheldon, Ananth A. Jillepalli. 08 January 2019 Read more
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Global patterns and drivers of ecosystem functioning in rivers and riparian zones | Natalie A. Griffiths, et al. 09 January 2019. Read more
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Composites Science and Technology
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Polyaniline-based all-polymeric adhesive layer: An effective lightning strike protection technology for high residual mechanical strength of CFRPs | Vipin Kumar, Tomohiro Yokozeki, Takao Okada, Yoshiyasu Hirano, Teruya Goto, Tatsuhiro Takahashi, Ahmed Arabi Hassen, Roshio Ogasawara. 09 January 2019 Read more
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Characterization of GDI PM during vehicle start-top operation | John M. Storey, Melanie Moses-DeBusk, Shean Huff, John Thomas, Mary Elbl, Faustine Li..15 January 2019 Read more
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Estimation of the fuel efficiency potential of six gasoline blendstocks identified by the U.S. Department of Energy's Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines Program | C. Scott Sluder. 15 January 2019 Read more
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Iron (oxyhydr)oxides serve as phosphate traps in tundra and boreal peat soils | Elizabeth M. Herndo, Lauren Kinsman‐Costello, Kiersten A. Duroe, Jonathan Mills, Evan S. Kane, Stephen D. Sebestyen, Aaron A. Thompson, Stan D. Wullschleger. 15 January 2018. Read more
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Nature Communications Biology
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Downregulation of pectin biosynthesis gene GAUT4 leads to reduced ferulate and lignin-carbohydrate cross-linking in switchgrass | Mi Li, Chang Geun Yoo, Yunqiao Pu, Ajaya K. Biswal, Allison K. Tolbert, Debra Mohnen, Arthur J. Ragauskas. 17 January 2019. Read more
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Climate-driven reduction of genetic variation in plant phenology alters soil communities and nutrient pools | Ian M. Ware, Michael E. Van Nuland, Jennifer A. Schweitzer, Zamin Yang, Christopher W. Schadt,,Lindsay C. Sidak‐Loftis, Nathan E. Stone, Joseph D. Busch, David M. Wagner, Joseph K. Bailey. 18 January 2019. Read more
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Review of environmental metrics used across multiple sectors and geographies to evaluate the effects of hydropower development | Esther P. Parish, Brenda M. Pracheil, Ryan A. McManamay, Shelaine Curd, Christopher R. DeRolph, Brennan T. Smith. 18 January 2019. Read more
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npj Nature Materials Degradation
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Influence of young cement water on the corrosion of the International Simple Glass | Colleen Mann, Karine Ferrand, Sanheng Liu, Jeremy R. Eskelsen, Eric Pierce, Karel Lemmens, Claire Corkhill. 22 January 2019. Read more
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Simulated projections of boreal forest peatland ecosystem productivity are sensitive to observed seasonality in leaf physiology | Anna M. Jensen, Jeffrey M. Warren, Anthony W. King, Daniel M. Ricciuto, Paul J. Hanson, Stan D. Wullschleger. 22 January 2019. Read more
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The nature of the progression of drought stress drives differential metabolomic responses in Populus deltoides | Timothy James Tschaplinski, Paul E. Abraham, Sara S. Jawdy, Lee E. Gunter, Madhavi Z. Martin, Nancy L. Engle, Xiaohan Yang, Gerald A. Tuskan. 23 January 2019. Read more
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VEHICLES:
Fuel cell power up
ORNL scientists studying fuel cells as a potential alternative to internal combustion engines used sophisticated electron microscopy to investigate the benefits of replacing high-cost platinum with a lower cost, carbon-nitrogen-manganese-based catalyst. Read more
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BUILDINGS:
On-the-go HVAC check
Technicians can access a free tool developed by ORNL to support the installation and repair of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, particularly when using new refrigerants. Read more
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NUCLEAR:
Deep space travel
By automating the production of neptunium oxide-aluminum pellets, ORNL scientists have eliminated a key bottleneck when producing plutonium-238 used by NASA to fuel deep space exploration. Read more
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Natalie Griffiths:
Fielding scientific questions
After playing on the Canadian women's baseball team, Natalie Griffiths traded her mitt for a career in biogeochemistry, following the tradition of her scientist family. As science lead for Aquatic Ecosystem Dynamics at ORNL, she studies the effects of environmental change on the health of streams and other aquatic systems. Read more
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Energy Talks series kicks off
Melissa Cregger and Omar Demerdash kicked off the inaugural EESD Energy Talks series in January. Melissa presented her research on microbial communities and their link to the health of host organisms, including insights on human health. Omar detailed his work applying machine learning for a better understanding of biomolecules, and how the research could speed the discovery of drug therapies.
Be sure to attend this month's talks, detailed above.
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ORNL's power grid security and resilience R&D is highlighted in a new video, which debuted at the DOE Innovation XLab Grid Modernization Summit in Seattle.
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Eric Pierce has been chosen for the DOE Oppenheimer Science and Energy Leadership Program, which recognizes and encourages leaders across the national laboratory system.
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Boualem Hadjerioua has been elected fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, recognizing his work in hydropower and pumped storage research and development.
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FEBRUARY
12 • ESD and Women in Engineering and Science (WiNS): Ted Talks
ORNL - Building 1505, Room 189
(Ocoee Conference Room), 12-1 p.m.
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Viewing and discussing two TED Talks in celebration of the 2019 International Day of Women and Girls in Science: How empowering women and girls can help stop global warming, by Katharine Wilkinson; and For the future of women in science, look to the past, by Nathalia Holt.
Everyone is welcome.
14 • EESD Energy Talks
ORNL - Weinberg Auditorium, 3-4 p.m.
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"Neighborhoods of the future" by Heather Buckberry
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"Advances in wireless charging for electric vehicles" by Veda Galigekere
19 • EESD Science Trailer at Lipscomb University
Nashville, TN
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Celebrating National Engineers Week and African American History Month with STEM activities for high school and college students.
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Interested? Contact burkejj@ornl.gov
Louisville, KY
MARCH
San Antonio, TX
Paris, France
14 • EESD Energy Talks
ORNL - Weinberg Auditorium, 3-4 p.m.
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"Rebuilding the Puerto Rico power grid" by Marissa Morales Rodriguez
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"More than just a face: Innovations in identity science" by Hector Santos-Villalobos
Chicago, IL
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