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John Gearhart has been named director of the Environment, Safety, Health and Quality Directorate at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, effective June 19.

When opportunity meets talent, great things happen. The laser comb developed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory serves as such an example. This advanced technique, developed by laser scientist Yun Liu, allows physicists to take measurements of particle beams in superconducting linear accelerators in real-time without affecting operations. The measurement captures critical information about changes in the distribution of beam particles. The development and use of this technique solidifies ORNL’s leadership in beam instrumentation and leads the advancement of high-power proton accelerators.

Like most scientists, Chengping Chai is not content with the surface of things: He wants to probe beyond to learn what’s really going on. But in his case, he is literally building a map of the world beneath, using seismic and acoustic data that reveal when and where the earth moves. Yet earthquakes are not the focus of Chai’s research at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He is using these waves to make waves — creating new opportunities for developing clean energy and enhancing sensing capabilities around nuclear reactors.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers, in collaboration with Enginuity Power Systems, demonstrated that a micro combined heat and power prototype, or mCHP, with a piston engine can achieve an overall energy efficiency greater than 93%.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have invented a coating that could dramatically reduce friction in common load-bearing systems with moving parts, from vehicle drive trains to wind and hydroelectric turbines. It reduces the friction of steel rubbing on steel at least a hundredfold. The novel ORNL coating could help grease a U.S. economy that each year loses more than $1 trillion to friction and wear — equivalent to 5% of the gross national product.

Stan David, retired scientist and Corporate Fellow Emeritus at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, was awarded the Joining and Welding Science Award from the Joining and Welding Research Institute at Osaka University, Japan.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists found that a small tweak created big performance improvements in a type of solid-state battery, a technology considered vital to broader electric vehicle adoption.

An innovative and sustainable chemistry developed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory for capturing carbon dioxide from air has been licensed to Holocene, a Knoxville-based startup focused on designing and building plants that remove carbon dioxide from atmospheric air.

Rigoberto Advincula, a renowned scientist at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Tennessee, has won the Netzsch North American Thermal Analysis Society (NATAS) Fellows Award for 2023.

Nature-based solutions are an effective tool to combat climate change triggered by rising carbon emissions, whether it’s by clearing the skies with bio-based aviation fuels or boosting natural carbon sinks. At the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, scientists are leading research to transform plants into key drivers of decarbonization, from creating biomass crops for new fuels to enhancing the ability of plants to absorb and store carbon.