NEWS RELEASES

Funded by the Department of Energy, these centers are part of an effort that brings together national laboratories, universities and industry to invent and accelerate novel microelectronics technologies to operate efficiently or in extreme environments.

Researchers from Princeton University and the University of Arizona have created a simulation that maps underground water on a continental scale. The result of three years’ work studying groundwater from coast to coast, the findings plot the unseen path that each raindrop or melted snowflake takes before reemerging in freshwater streams, following water from land surface to depths far below and back up again, emerging up to 100 miles away, after spending from 10 to 100,000 years underground.

Led by interns from multiple DOE programs, a newly expanded dataset allows researchers to use easy-to-obtain measurements to determine the elemental composition of a promising carbon storage mineral.

For nearly half a century, Robert D. “Bob” McKeown has probed nuclear particles and educated rising generations of physicists. Now, the former deputy director for science at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is being honored for his outstanding career contributions with the 2024 American Physical Society’s Division of Nuclear Physics (DNP) Distinguished Service Award.

A team led by Columbia Engineering researchers and collaborators report that they have invented new nanoscale sensors of force. They are luminescent nanocrystals that can change intensity and/or color when you push or pull on them. These "all-optical" nanosensors are probed with light only and therefore allow for fully remote read-outs -- no wires or connections are needed.

The U.S. Department of Energy has selected the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory to receive two prestigious Microelectronics Science Research Center. The DOE program leading to these awards originated from the CHIPS and Science Act. Yevgeny Raitses will lead efforts to incorporate 2D materials into next-generation semiconductors, while Alastair Stacey will research diamond materials for sensors that need to work in harsh environments. These awards underscore PPPL’s expertise in plasma, which is a key part of making microelectronics and the highest quality, lab-grown diamond.

A new generation of microelectronics research begins at PNNL.