2018 | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

My Internship as a Computational Engineer

Florida International University student Longfei Wei completed an internship at Argonne National Laboratory, working with ANL researchers to test power measurement data and develop machine learning algorithms able to forecast future renewable energy generation.

New CRISPR Technology ‘Knocks Out’ Yeast Genes With Single-Point Precision

The CRISPR-Cas9 system has given researchers the power to precisely edit selected genes. Now, researchers at the University of Illinois have used it to develop a technology that can target any gene in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and turn it off by deleting single letters from its DNA sequence.

Engineers Studying Nanodefects Suspected of Causing Early Failures of Electrical Materials

Xiaoli Tan, an Iowa State University professor of materials science and engineering, is working to be the first to see and record how nanoscale defects in electrical insulators may evolve into material breakdowns.

Theory for One Type of Superconductor Solves Puzzle in Another

A 2017 theory proposed by Rice University physicists to explain the contradictory behavior of an iron-based high-temperature superconductor is helping solve a puzzle in a different type of unconventional superconductor, the “heavy fermion” compound known as CeCu2Si2.

Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cells are Highly Durable, Fuel Flexible

In the first long-term study of its kind, researchers from Colorado School of Mines have shown that the relatively new class of fuel cells exhibit both the long-term durability and fuel flexibility needed to become a viable commercial alternative to other existing fuel cell technologies.

A Switchgrass Sugar Situation

Switchgrass is a promising biofuel alternative to corn, but farmers, environmentalists and biofuel developers, find deciding on the right time to harvest particularly thorny.

Focusing on the Negative is Good When It Comes to Batteries

Chemists at several institutions, including Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed by Caltech for NASA, as well as the Honda Research Institute and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, have hit on a new way of making rechargeable batteries based on fluoride, the negatively charged form, or anion, of the element fluorine.

Using a 'Magneto-Gravitational Trap,' IU Physicists Measure Neutrons with Unprecedented Precision

A study led in part by physicists at the Indiana University Center for the Exploration of Energy and Matter could provide new insight into the composition of the universe immediately after the Big Bang -- as well as improve calculations used to predict the life span of stars and describe the rules that govern the subatomic world.

A Green Approach to Making Ammonia Could Help Feed the World

UCF research team with collaborators at Virginia Tech have developed a new “green” approach to making ammonia that may help make feeding the rising world population more sustainable.

OU Physicist Developing Quantum-Enhanced Sensors for Real-Life Applications

A University of Oklahoma physicist, Alberto M. Marino, is developing quantum-enhanced sensors that could find their way into applications ranging from biomedical to chemical detection.

An Innovative Approach to Better Energy Storage

A Penn/Drexel research team has engineered a way to manipulate nanomaterials to stand up vertically on a scale that has potential for industrial applications.

UF Joins New Center to Create Fuel from Plants

The University of Florida is one of 17 institutions partnering with the University of Illinois in the $115-million Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI). Researchers will work to develop efficient ways to grow, transform and market biofuels.