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Tag: Argonne National Laboratory

  • Advisory panel issues field-defining recommendations for investments in particle physics research

    Advisory panel issues field-defining recommendations for investments in particle physics research

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    Newswise — Yesterday marked the release of a highly anticipated report from the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5), unveiling an exciting new roadmap for unlocking the secrets of the cosmos through particle physics.

    The report was released by the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel to the High Energy Physics program of the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Science Foundation’s Division of Physics. It outlines particle physicists’ recommendations for research priorities in a field whose projects — such as building new accelerator facilities — can take years or decades, contributions from thousands of scientists and billions of dollars

    The 2023 P5 report represents the major activity in the field of particle physics that delivers recommendations to U.S. funding agencies. This year’s report builds on the output of the 2021 Snowmass planning exercise — a process organized by the American Physical Society’s (APS) Division of Particles and Fields that convened particle physicists and cosmologists from around the world to outline research priorities. This membership division constitutes the only independent body in the U.S. that represents particle physics as a whole.

    “With our state-of-the-art facilities and community of dedicated scientists, Argonne’s contributions are shaping the global trajectory of high-energy physics.” — Rik Yoshida, Argonne High Energy Physics Division Director

    “With our state-of-the-art facilities and community of dedicated scientists, Argonne’s contributions are shaping the global trajectory of high-energy physics.” — Rik Yoshida, Argonne High Energy Physics Division Director

    “The P5 report will lay the foundation for a very bright future in the field,” said R. Sekhar Chivukula, 2023 chair of the APS Division of Particles and Fields and a distinguished professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego. ​“There are extraordinarily important scientific questions remaining in particle physics, which the U.S. particle physics community has both the capability and opportunity to help address, within our own facilities and as a member of the global high energy physics community.”

    The report includes a range of budget-conscious recommendations for federal investments in research programs, the U.S. technical workforce and the technology and infrastructure needed to realize the next generation of transformative discoveries related to fundamental physics and the origin of the universe. For example, the report recommends continued support for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), based out of DOE’s Fermilab in Illinois, for CMB-S4, a network of ground-based telescopes designed to observe the cosmic microwave background (CMB), and for the planned expansion of the South Pole’s neutrino observatory, an international collaboration known as IceCube-Gen2, in a facility operated by the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

    Researchers at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory stand at the forefront of high energy physics and are poised to contribute significantly to the advancement of the field over the next decade. They are exploring the fundamental nature of the universe and pioneering innovative technologies with far-reaching implications. In particular, Argonne’s High Energy Physics (HEP) division leverages the laboratory’s suite of multidisciplinary facilities and equipment — including world-class scientific computing capabilities — to further scientific discovery and advance accelerator technology. For example, Argonne’s contributions to key high energy physics collaborations include the design and fabrication of components for DUNE, the development of cutting-edge detectors for CMB-S4 and more.

    “With our state-of-the-art facilities and community of dedicated scientists, Argonne’s contributions are helping to shape the global trajectory of high-energy physics,” said Rik Yoshida, director of Argonne’s HEP division. ​“This report reflects the collective wisdom of the high energy physics community, and we look forward to leveraging our expertise and capabilities here at Argonne to help uncover the mysteries of the universe, drive innovation, inspire future generations of scientists and bolster our nation’s vital role in the future of particle physics.”

    “In the P5 exercise, it’s really important that we take this broad look at where the field of particle physics is headed, to deliver a report that amounts to a strategic plan for the U.S. community with a 10-year budgetary timeline and a 20-year context. The panel thought about where the next big discoveries might lie and how we could maximize impact within budget, to support future discoveries and the next generation of researchers and technical workers who will be needed to achieve them,” said Karsten Heeger, P5 panel deputy chair and Eugene Higgins Professor and chair of physics at Yale University.

    New knowledge, and new technologies, set the stage for the most recent Snowmass and P5 convenings. ​“The Higgs boson had just been discovered before the previous P5 process, and now our continued study of the particle has greatly informed what we think may lie beyond the standard model of particle physics,” said Hitoshi Murayama, P5 panel chair and the MacAdams Professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley. ​“Our thinking about what dark matter might be has also changed, forcing the community to look elsewhere — to the cosmos. And in 2015, the discovery of gravitational waves was reported. Accelerator technology is changing too, which has shifted the discussion to the technology R&D needed to build the next-generation particle collider.”

    The U.S. participates in several major international scientific collaborations in high energy physics and cosmology, including the European Council for Nuclear Research (CERN), which operates the Large Hadron Collider, where the Higgs boson was discovered in 2012. The P5 report recommends that the U.S. support a significant in-kind contribution to a new international facility, the ​“Higgs factory,” to further our understanding of the Higgs boson.

    It also recommends that the U.S. study the possibility of hosting the next most-advanced particle collider facility to reinforce the country’s leading role in international high energy physics for decades to come.

    Activities of the P5 are supported in part by the APS’s Division of Particles and Fields.

    The American Physical Society is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents more than 50,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world.

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  • Argonne joins Illinois manufacturers for ​“Makers on the Move” tour

    Argonne joins Illinois manufacturers for ​“Makers on the Move” tour

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    Newswise — Manufacturers throughout Illinois will have the chance to learn about working with the Materials Manufacturing Innovation Center (MMIC) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, when the MMIC gets on the bus for the second annual Makers on the Move tour. 

    The Illinois Manufacturing Association and Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Center (IMEC) sponsor the eight-day, 1,000-mile tour, designed to showcase high-tech, clean, diverse and sustainable modern manufacturing. The branded Makers on the Move bus will stand out on the state’s roadways as it visits facilities, colleges and high schools in all corners of Illinois, starting Friday, Oct. 6 at Boeing in Mascoutah and ending on Oct. 13 at various Chicago facilities.   

    “We look forward to experiencing the diversity of manufacturing in Illinois and helping deliver on the lab’s mission of accelerating science and technology to drive U.S. prosperity and security.”  — MMIC Director Chris Heckle

    Meeting Illinois manufacturers face to face and learning their stories is a great opportunity for the MMIC, which exists to support industry partners in solving enduring manufacturing R&D challenges, identifying commercialization opportunities, licensing new technologies and introducing transformational discoveries to the marketplace, said MMIC Director Chris Heckle.

    “Celebrating October as Manufacturing Month is important to us at Argonne,” she said. ​“We look forward to experiencing the diversity of manufacturing in Illinois and helping deliver on the lab’s mission of accelerating science and technology to drive U.S. prosperity and security.” 

    In 2021, manufacturing contributed $2.3 trillion to the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), amounting to 12.0% of total U.S. GDP, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). IMEC is an approved center in NIST’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership national network.

    IMEC CEO and President David Boulay said Illinois manufacturers are keen to innovate and will be interested in how MMIC can connect them to Argonne’s cutting-edge research, capabilities and facilities, including the Materials Engineering Research Facility and Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, a DOE Office of Science user facility.

    “Argonne’s expertise in the materials and chemical processing spaces can help solve complex problems,” he said. ​“Argonne is a national laboratory with the MMIC as a great regional resource. Their commitment to traveling across the state with our team, in the spirit of supporting industry, demonstrates the lab’s commitment to partnership in manufacturing innovation.”  

    Launched last year, MMIC executes on Argonne’s commitment to advancing U.S. manufacturing by de-risking and accelerating the scale-up and commercialization of new, complex materials critically important to U.S. competitiveness. With MMIC as a first point of contact, industry can engage with scientists working on a new frontier of advanced manufacturing techniques and access facilities and equipment essential for inventing processes for transformative materials. Learn more.

    The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility provides supercomputing capabilities to the scientific and engineering community to advance fundamental discovery and understanding in a broad range of disciplines. Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program, the ALCF is one of two DOE Leadership Computing Facilities in the nation dedicated to open science.

    Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

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  • Argonne’s STEM mapping project highlights opportunities on Chicago’s south side

    Argonne’s STEM mapping project highlights opportunities on Chicago’s south side

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    Newswise — To become the diverse and talented workforce of today and tomorrow, learners of all ages and from every community need access to educational and training resources in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). There are many schools and organizations working to inspire, motivate and train learners of all ages in historically underserved neighborhoods of Chicago. To better understand these current resources and to grow and sustain a robust STEM ecosystem, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory has undertaken a STEM mapping project, called the STEM Opportunity Landscape Project, in nine south side Chicago neighborhoods.

    STEM asset mapping consists of an information gathering process that involves identifying all STEM programming, community learning spaces, workforce development programs and STEM employment opportunities in a neighborhood. The collected data is then depicted in the form of maps and other visualizations, creating a comprehensive and interactive STEM opportunity landscape.

    STEM mapping provides communities a holistic view of their community assets and collective strengths, enabling them to leverage these resources effectively. The maps and visualizations reflect STEM assets and opportunities that serve students from kindergarten to their careers, and they have just been made fully accessible to the public.

    “Argonne’s STEM Opportunity Landscape Project provides a free website that elevates the STEM learning, workforce and employment opportunities within these nine communities for learners of all ages. This tool provides valuable insight into crafting deliberate STEM learning pathways K-Career, addressing and closing existing gaps, fostering strategic partnerships, and optimizing available resources to enrich STEM opportunities,” said Meridith Bruozas, the institutional partnership director at Argonne.

    As part of the Argonne in Chicago initiative that includes an office space in Hyde Park, the STEM mapping project focuses on the following nine communities: Douglas, Grand Boulevard, Greater Grand Crossing, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Oakland, South Shore, Washington Park and Woodlawn.  The mapping project collected survey data from learning spaces, including schools, within these communities to identify potential linkages between them. “There are places that already exist in these communities, like makerspaces, computer labs and instructional kitchens, that a lot of people are generally not aware of,” said Argonne STEM Education Partnerships and Outreach Manager Jessica Burgess.

    According to Burgess, the STEM inventory being performed as part of the mapping project helps fulfill a need for a unified approach. “There’s been a call for a STEM ecosystem in which we can bring people together,” she said. “Through the Argonne in Chicago office, the laboratory has the ability to be a convener, building bridges within and between communities to maximize the connections that learners can make as they embark on their educational and career pathways.”

    Various organizations have historically offered valuable programming in these communities. However, these programs do not always connect into a larger STEM ecosystem. “The STEM mapping project offers us a really good view of the current state of the landscape, so that the schools, organizations and employers that work in these communities can identify strengths and weaknesses and ultimately drive connected learner pathways that provide skill development for learners that will eventually lead to STEM careers,” Burgess said.

    In addition to STEM education in schools, Burgess also described ways in which the STEM mapping initiative would be helpful for workforce development. “By including employers, particularly those that demand math- or engineering-related skills, we can help develop various routes by which members of these communities can achieve new STEM-related possibilities,” she said.

    “We are excited to introduce this comprehensive STEM resource to the participating communities,” Bruozas said. “With the tool launched, we are excited about the next phase of the project — diving into the data with the community — this will include hosting data-driven community conversations and co-creating a plan for what STEM learning looks like on the south side.

    By highlighting existing resources, facilitating collaboration, and engaging communities in decision-making, the STEM mapping initiative seeks to create a more equitable and inclusive STEM ecosystem. The project’s impact extends beyond the immediate communities on Chicago’s south side, serving as a model for other regions striving to provide equal access to STEM opportunities.

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  • Department of Energy grant supports inclusive high energy physics research

    Department of Energy grant supports inclusive high energy physics research

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    Newswise — The new project creates opportunities for researchers from historically underrepresented groups to develop technology that will help us understand the forces behind an expanding universe.

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) have been awarded funding for a program that aims to generate insights about the universe while expanding diversity in the high energy physics field.

    Through the $589,000, three-year grant from DOE’s Funding for Accelerated, Inclusive Research (FAIR) initiative, the research team will create a computer modeling framework to map a set of distant galaxies known as emission line galaxies. The grant also supports the participation of students from historically underrepresented groups.

    Shun Saito, assistant professor of physics at Missouri S&T, is leading the research project with Andrew Hearin, an Argonne physicist, as the DOE national laboratory partner. The goal is to unravel some of the mystery surrounding dark energy, the force thought to drive the universe’s accelerated expansion.

    “You really need supercomputing resources to be able to make predictions for galaxies in the large volumes we are simulating. Our modeling approach has been designed from the ground up to do exactly that.” — Andrew Hearin, Argonne physicist

    The project relates to the DOE-funded Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which is measuring the trajectory of this expansion by mapping emission line galaxies. Emission lines are light signals emanating from galaxies across billions of years. These lines can be used in mapping the galaxies and determining their histories. Saito and team will build a simulation-based framework to predict a clustering pattern of faraway emission line galaxies that can then be used to understand the nature of dark energy.

    “In the last decade, we have seen a lot of progress in measuring the nearby universe,” Saito said. ​“Now we want to locate more distant galaxies to fully map out the evolution of cosmological expansion.”

    The research will take advantage of high performance computing at Argonne’s Laboratory Computing Resource Center.

    “You really need supercomputing resources to be able to make predictions for galaxies in the large volumes we are simulating,” Hearin said. ​“Our modeling approach has been designed from the ground up to do exactly that.”

    The project continues efforts by Saito and Hearin, who are longtime collaborators, to create a more inclusive community of high energy physics researchers. In 2019, they founded the Midwest Cosmology Network to provide a collaborative forum for researchers who belong to relatively small, isolated cosmology groups at colleges and universities.

    In addition to research positions for one undergraduate, doctorate and postdoctorate student each, the program will also enable the collaborative work at Argonne.

    The resulting framework and data will be available to other researchers who seek to analyze data from DESI and similar surveys. ​“People working on understanding galaxies can use the catalogs generated by this project,” Saito said.

    In total, the DOE Office of Science awarded $37 million in funding to 52 projects representing 44 institutions. Hearin’s and Saito’s project is one of 10 projects affiliated with Argonne to receive this funding. The FAIR initiative aims to build research capacity, infrastructure and expertise at institutions historically underrepresented in the Office of Science portfolio, including minority serving institutions and emerging research institutions.

    Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

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  • Tips for future Argonne interns, from past Argonne interns

    Tips for future Argonne interns, from past Argonne interns

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    Newswise — Student STEM Ambassadors draw upon their experiences as interns to offer advice on how to make the most out of an internship at Argonne National Laboratory.

    Starting your first science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) internship can feel like a daunting task for college students, especially for those interning at national labs such as the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.

    For students embarking on an internship at Argonne, here are some tips from Argonne’s Student STEM Ambassadors (SSA), who themselves completed internships at the lab.

    The first step toward success starts before the internship even begins. During the period between being accepted into a program and starting work at the lab, future interns should take the initiative to reach out to their mentors and brush up on the current state of the science they will study.

    “It can feel intimidating to reach out to your mentor, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing. But the whole point of this internship is to learn, and the first step is realizing that you won’t be penalized for not knowing something; I wish I had known that before I started the internship.” — David Lopez, CCI intern and Student STEM Ambassador

    “If you’re sitting at home and have nothing to do, just send your mentor an email,” said Alice Gao, who participated in the 2022 Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI) program.

    “It can feel intimidating to reach out to your mentor, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing,” said David Lopez. He first interned at Argonne for the Community College Internships (CCI) in 2022, and he is returning for a second CCI program this year. ​“But the whole point of this internship is to learn, and the first step is realizing that you won’t be penalized for not knowing something; I wish I had known that before I started the internship.”

    The learning process continues when students begin their internships. SSAs encourage interns to take things nice and slow for their first week at the lab.

    “Be patient, and don’t try to rush into the research,” said Justin Griffith, a 2022 SULI intern. ​“Building a solid, theoretical foundation for your work is what the first couple of weeks are about — developing your understanding of the material, training, and plenty of reading.”

    “For any questions you have about your research project’s goals, it’s best to ask your mentor about them early, because the longer you wait, the harder it becomes to fix the trajectory you’ve already set,” said Gao.

    Though research remains a strong priority for internships, the SSAs emphasized the importance of social interactions throughout the experience. Students should try to attend as many events as they can and talk with others, even if it takes them out of their comfort zone.

    “Go to as many events as you can, and talk to people about the cool science they’re working on,” said Griffith. ​“I got to know quite a few other interns that I still talk with now, a year later. It can be really easy to be caught up in your research, but being able to take an hour or half-hour of your day to attend a seminar, be part of a social event, or just grab lunch with an intern can be really helpful.”

    Interns’ projects culminate in their greatest challenge: giving professional STEM presentations on their research at the lab-wide Learning on the Lawn.

    “The best way to prepare is to practice casually; the more you talk about your research with others, the better you’ll be able to present your poster,” said Griffith. ​“It’s a great way to develop your communication skills while also showing off what you’ve learned. There is a satisfaction of being able to describe what you have done in that last 10 weeks. It feels very official, like you’ve done meaningful work.”

    Finally, the biggest tip that the SSAs could give students is to apply for more internships. An internship can make a positive difference in students’ futures, as it has for these past interns.

    “Argonne has helped me in my school life; I’ve actually used what I’ve learned from Argonne in my courses,” said Lopez. ​“Interning at Argonne is a rare chance at something new, and if you don’t take advantage of the opportunity, you may regret missing out.”

    This work was supported in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS).

    Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

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  • IBM’s Jason Orcutt moves the world toward an interconnected quantum future

    IBM’s Jason Orcutt moves the world toward an interconnected quantum future

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    Newswise — Jason Orcutt of IBM provides an industry perspective on quantum simulation research at the Q-NEXT quantum research center and works to connect quantum information systems around the globe.

    Glance around Jason Orcutt’s office at IBM Quantum, and you’ll see circuit boards, hiking trail maps, qubit probes and his kids’ artwork. Part office, part lab, part gallery: It’s a cross section of a life of rigorous research and vigorous recreation.

    The scene also captures the kind of activity balancing that characterizes his work as a quantum information researcher, switching between hands-on investigation and high-level research strategy. He uses these wide-ranging skills in his role as a co-design engineer for Q-NEXT, the National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory.

    A principal research scientist at IBM Quantum, Orcutt provides an industry perspective on one of the pillars of Q-NEXT research: developing simulations to better design quantum information systems.

    “IBM brings a future-looking perspective on the problems we need to solve to develop a really useful quantum computer. And Q-NEXT really aligns with our vision on creating new types of quantum interconnects to scale quantum computers into the future.” — Jason Orcutt, IBM

    Q-NEXT collaborators use quantum computers and classical supercomputers to simulate the behaviors of materials used for quantum applications, which are expected to be revolutionary. In the decades ahead, scientists will deploy quantum sensors that can detect an earthquake from space and run powerful quantum computers that can rapidly suss out solutions to intractable problems.

    “We’re using simulations to better design materials and adapting those simulations to an interconnected quantum system,” Orcutt said. ​“IBM brings a future-looking perspective on the problems we need to solve to develop a really useful quantum computer. And Q-NEXT really aligns with our vision on creating new types of quantum interconnects to scale quantum computers into the future.”

    “Quantum interconnect” is a fancy way of referring to the components that link quantum devices. It could be the instruments connecting a sensor to a computer, or it could be a line on a printed circuit board. Without interconnects, quantum devices can’t talk to each other, and quantum information can’t be shared.

    At IBM Quantum, Orcutt coordinates the development of long-range quantum interconnects, which link devices separated by meters to kilometers, such as the nodes in a future quantum data center.

    “How do we extend quantum information or connect quantum systems over physical distance?” he said. ​“Right now, our IBM quantum systems are really restricted to a single chip. I and the people I work with, as well as the academic researchers such as those at Q-NEXT, are looking to develop connections between qubits that will extend beyond more than one chip.”

    Sending quantum information over longer distances is an obstacle course of physics challenges. For starters, quantum information is fragile. Qubits — the fundamental units of quantum information — fall apart at the smallest disturbance. Distance complicates matters. How do you provide qubits with safe, noise-free passage over a kilometer or more? The proposition is like asking a soap bubble not to pop as it travels down a galley of knives.

    “You can’t use the same tools to pattern a centimeter size chip as you would a meter-scale cable,” Orcutt said.

    Qubits must also be continually converted and reconverted to the right frequencies to be read by the devices they encounter on their journey. The most fundamental frequency conversion requirements arise from the different levels of thermal noise at different frequencies. For example: IBM Quantum focuses on a type of qubit that lives in the microwave frequency range. In this range, the quantum information must be cooled to a few hundredths of a degree from absolute zero to be protected from thermal noise. To be transported in room temperature materials — a requirement for long distance communication — the quantum information must be converted to the optical-wave range, a whopping 10,000 times the frequency of microwaves.

    The way that materials respond to the two frequency ranges is massively different. How do you engineer materials to successfully conduct information that starts as a murmur and ends in a trill?

    Such challenges are part of the growing pains of the field of quantum information science, which is working to tap the potential of information that, until recently, was kept cozily inside tiny instruments such as microchips.

    “We’re taking quantum information into places it traditionally doesn’t live,” Orcutt said. Instead of moving through chips built in clean rooms, qubits are having to find their way through ​“the messy world of macroscopic objects,” he said, such as meter-long coaxial cables or fiber optic cables that connect nodes that are miles apart.

    The scientific community is working to build quantum systems that will eventually connect the globe. Simulating them from soup to nuts is key to ensuring that the interconnected systems of the future will be successful. Orcutt draws on his experience at IBM to inform Q-NEXT’s quantum simulations work.

    “We have to reengineer our systems, and to do that, we have to simulate them,” he said. ​“But how do we reengineer our systems around quantum interconnects instead of a monolithic computing device? Systems where there are different levels of connectivity? We have to rethink not just how we build the systems, but also how we adapt our algorithms to best use them.”

    Orcutt began his journey into quantum information science at Columbia University, planning initially to be a patent lawyer, combining interests in debate and technology.

    “What I quickly realized was that there are many other ways to pursue science and have a fulfilling career that was closer to creating new technical ideas,” he said.

    He pivoted to a bachelor’s in electrical engineering, with no intention of attending graduate school. But, again, he changed his mind after a couple of happy lab experiences working on electronics and photonics. For his Ph.D. research at MIT, Orcutt built the first optical interconnects in the commercial manufacturing processes used for microprocessor and memory chips.

    “This was a wonderful project because it wasn’t just about the devices — it was connected to the systems, which is something that has always been a key draw for me throughout my life,” he said.

    In 2013, Orcutt joined IBM. It was a major shift for someone who started his career as ​“the one soldering the circuit, the one simulating the physics or coding the program,” he said. And while he continues to work directly with the technology, 10 years later, he’s also the one asking how quantum computers should be wired, what components are required to connect the qubits and what direction IBM should take to tackle these strategic and technology questions.

    Orcutt’s experience both at the bench and at the center of operations made him a valuable contributor to Q-NEXT’s 2022 quantum technology report ​“A Roadmap for Quantum Interconnects,” which outlines the discoveries needed to build practical quantum information technologies in one or two decades.

    “It was a useful exercise to define the important challenges and potential solutions that are emerging within the community and define it so it could be addressed by the center on a 10-year scale,” he said.

    Producing the roadmap is just one example of IBM’s collaborative effort with Q-NEXT.

    “The next phase of quantum information science will involve creating new materials and refined products that have superior quantum information performance. And to address that, we need a whole bunch of forces coming together, which is another reason why the shared infrastructure at centers like Q-NEXT are critical,” Orcutt said. ​“Trying to tackle these really hard problems is one of the main reasons we like to work with other industrial players, national labs and a broad consortium of academic groups. To us — to me and to IBM in general — that is a paramount reason to get involved in Q-NEXT: to be able to tackle the really hard problems together with the best people in the field.”

    Building the quantum workforce through education and outreach is another goal for IBM Quantum. IBM creates connections to the students, postdocs and other early-career scientists conducting research at centers like Q-NEXT, widening opportunities to grow its own quantum workforce.

    For those thinking of entering the field, Orcutt notes the excitement of quantum research.

    “When I have a new task or project, I initially have absolutely no idea how we’re going to solve it. The wonderful thing is, we’ve been able to make significant progress against our goals,” he said. ​“It’s been a wonderful journey of figuring out ways to contribute to the quantum effort and trying to solve problems along the way.”

    This work was supported by the DOE Office of Science National Quantum Information Science Research Centers as part of the Q-NEXT center.

    About Q-NEXT

    Q-NEXT is a U.S. Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by Argonne National Laboratory. Q-NEXT brings together world-class researchers from national laboratories, universities and U.S. technology companies with the goal of developing the science and technology to control and distribute quantum information. Q-NEXT collaborators and institutions will create two national foundries for quantum materials and devices, develop networks of sensors and secure communications systems, establish simulation and network test beds, and train the next-generation quantum-ready workforce to ensure continued U.S. scientific and economic leadership in this rapidly advancing field. For more information, visit https://​q​-next​.org/.

    Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

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  • How Argonne makes the power grid more reliable and resilient

    How Argonne makes the power grid more reliable and resilient

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    Newswise — Through innovative methods of deeply understanding the complexities of the grid, the lab helps secure the nation’s energy future.

    The U.S. power grid is almost incomprehensibly large. Comprising nearly 12,000 power plants, 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines, 60,000 substations and 3 million miles of power lines, it may well be the most massive and complex machine ever assembled. Households, businesses, governments and essential infrastructure — including water, telecommunications, food supply, health care and wastewater treatment — rely on the grid around the clock. The power it generates fuels the U.S. economy.

    All this complexity makes it critical to understand the vulnerabilities of the nation’s electric transmission and distribution systems and to protect the grid from an evolving set of human-caused and natural hazards. Those can include cyberattacks from foreign governments and terrorists as well as extreme weather events driven by climate change. Record-setting heat waves, unprecedented storms and flooding, historic droughts and wildfires all pose hazards to the grid.

    “What sets Argonne apart is that we are very good at looking at all these problems from a multidisciplinary perspective. There are no research silos here.” — Mark Petri, head of Argonne’s Electric Power Grid Program

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory plays a vital role in maintaining and developing a stable and secure grid. At the nation’s first national lab, located in southwest suburban Chicago, scientists and engineers bring to bear collective expertise in economics, threat assessment and mitigation, system vulnerability analysis, critical infrastructure interdependency modeling, proactive cybersecurity defense and emergency readiness and response support. The lab also leverages cutting-edge high performance computing hardware, mathematical software technologies, and artificial intelligence and machine learning resources.

    “What sets Argonne apart is that we are very good at looking at all these problems from a multidisciplinary perspective,” says Mark Petri, head of the lab’s Electric Power Grid Program, who leads security and resilience activities. Petri also serves as technical team lead for the Markets, Policies & Regulations pillar of DOE’s Grid Modernization Initiative. ​“We bring together engineers, infrastructure analysts, computer scientists and modelers, artificial intelligence experts, economists, battery researchers and others in a focused effort to tackle these critical national challenges. There are no research silos here.”

    Argonne also collaborates with local, state, regional, tribal and territorial stakeholders, as well as academia, utilities and other national laboratories. This helps Argonne develop and deploy innovative solutions and advanced technologies that enhance the grid’s ability to withstand and recover from threats. Argonne is a key contributor to the Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium, a strategic partnership between DOE and the national labs to bring together leading experts, technologies and resources to collaborate on the goal of modernizing the nation’s grid.

    Specialized models and training help design and defend an evolving grid

    For more than two decades, Argonne has pioneered the analysis of grid infrastructure. That includes identifying natural and man-made external threats to the system — everything from hail to hackers — and honing in precisely on system vulnerabilities. ​“If I have flooding, high winds, ice — what are the things that are likely to break on the system?” Petri asks. ​“Are transmission towers going to go out? Are substations going to be under water? Am I going to lose power generation? Knowing the weak links in the chain is key.”

    Researchers are also interested in deeply examining the complex interdependencies that exist between electricity infrastructure and other energy systems such as natural gas. Understanding the interconnections, the ways the systems operate in concert and how disruption in one sector has the potential to cause cascading failures across the entire complex, allows researchers to anticipate potential disruptions, manage impacts and develop adaptation measures for the future.

    Argonne scientists have developed specialized computer modeling tools to enable decision makers to make informed, data-backed choices when proactively hardening the grid or responding to threats in real time. For instance, they developed one of the highest resolution climate models covering North America, which projects the impacts of climate change 50 years into the future. While most climate modeling is done at the scale of 100-kilometer grid blocks on a map, Argonne’s model behind its Climate Risk and Resilience Portal, driven by some of the nation’s most powerful supercomputers, zooms in to the level of 12 kilometers. (Argonne’s next climate models will have a resolution closer to four kilometers, which approaches the size of a large urban neighborhood or small rural town.)

    “Developing the hazard and climate risk models that leverage the latest in the science and the leadership class computational resources at Argonne and DOE has enabled us to work with a multitude of private and public sector utilities” said Rao Kotamarthi, science director of the Center for Climate Resilience and Decision Science and a senior scientist at Argonne’s Environmental Science division.

    Kotamarthi explained that the breakthrough offers more actionable hyperlocal information for leaders thinking through climate resiliency planning. Companies including AT&T and ComEd, as well as government agencies like the New York Power Authority, already see the model’s value. Looking to improve the resilience of their grid-level infrastructure and keep critical services up and running, they can see which pieces of valuable equipment sit in likely future climate-related danger zones. This helps them to identify locations that may need to be stabilized or relocated altogether.

    Argonne has also developed several other leading modeling tools, including the Hurricane Electric Assessment Damage Outage, which forecasts likely power outages after a storm. The EPfast tool examines power outage impacts on large electric grid systems. The Restore tool provides insights into repair times for outages at critical infrastructure facilities. And the Electric Grid Resilience Improvement Program models power system restoration after a major blackout.

    Moreover, to help system operators respond more quickly to grid failures, limit impacts on customers and speed recovery, Argonne supports system operator training so they can effectively respond to major grid disruptions. Stakeholders responsible for resilience are put through readiness exercises that replicate real-world threat, response and recovery scenarios — hurricanes, blizzards, earthquakes, cyberattacks — and hone their in-the-moment decision-making skills.

    New tools predict outcomes from emergent grid resources

    Adding yet another layer of complexity to the grid, distributed energy resources (DERs) like rooftop solar panels and generators have emerged as significant power generation sources. DERs contribute to a power system’s overall capacity, but operators must assess their impact and forecast their potential, especially during extreme weather events. That’s why Argonne created TDcoSim, a cutting-edge transmission and distribution co-simulation software tool that enables high-fidelity modeling of DERs. It’s the first model capable of simulating both transmission (the high-voltage network used to transfer power long distances) and distribution (the localized low-voltage network used by the utilities to deliver power to consumers).

    “This is a totally new paradigm in grid modeling. Nobody has done this before,” says Vladimir Koritarov, director of the lab’s Center for Energy, Environmental and Economic Systems Analysis. ​“At Argonne, we specialize in developing these kinds of new, advanced grid models, algorithms, optimization methods and approaches that are more efficient, faster and more accurate than previously available ones.”

    Among those models is the Argonne Low-Carbon Electricity Analysis Framework, known as A-LEAF, an integrated national-scale simulation framework for power system operations and planning. It allows operators to evaluate different pathways to decarbonization of electric grids. A related Argonne-developed interactive tool called the Geospatial Energy Mapper helps users identify sites across the country best suited for renewable energy infrastructure projects.

    As the U.S. aims to meet a goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, the grid’s energy mix will likely include far more renewables than today. But sources such as solar and wind are variable in their production and output may be reduced in extreme weather. Adapting to this variability interests Argonne energy systems engineer Neal Mann. At a time when long-term planning decisions are being made about which energy infrastructure technologies are invested in and built, and which will be retired, Mann focuses on the role nuclear power might play in the future grid. ​“If we rely too much on weather-driven generation, do we end up compromising reliability under stressed climate-related conditions?” he asks. ​“In those cases, having nuclear and other so-called dispatchable technologies available could be the difference between widespread outages or not.”

    Grid-level energy storage is focus of materials and manufacturing R&D

    To compensate for the uncertainty of variable renewables and to capture excess generation, researchers across Argonne are focused on low-cost, high-efficiency energy storage. Those efforts include research into various novel battery technologies such as advanced sodium-ion cathodes and new flow cell chemistries; chemical and thermal storage; and pumped storage hydropower, a common type of hydroelectric energy storage that can provide power even during extended lulls in solar and wind generation.

    One project involves the development of a model based on the R&D 100 winning EverBatt model, called ​“EverGrid.” The free to use model will help determine the impacts of stationary energy storage technologies such as flow batteries and advanced lead acid batteries at end-of-life, including recycling. The model will help researchers make better decisions during the technology development process as well as help find hot spots in processing that can lead to optimization and scale up.

    “In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and hit U.S. climate goals, we’re going to be increasingly relying on renewable energy, which is not a constant source of energy,” says Chris Heckle, director of the Materials Manufacturing Innovation Center at Argonne. ​“We need to develop grid-level energy storage solutions, which will need to be large in scale. That will involve manufacturing challenges, transportation challenges and systems challenges, all of which Argonne is well positioned to meet.”

    For Petri, the growing complexity of the grid and the evolving threats against it make Argonne’s interdisciplinary approach more necessary than ever to help secure the nation’s energy future.

    “Our ability to understand how the grid’s complex systems behave, how they might be disrupted, and how operators can improve response is vitally important,” he says. ​“It’s important to people’s lives, it’s important to our economy, it’s important to our national security. And here at Argonne, we are right in the middle of improving these systems from a reliability and resilience perspective.”

    Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

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  • New quantum sensing technique reveals magnetic connections

    New quantum sensing technique reveals magnetic connections

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    Newswise — A research team supported by the Q-NEXT quantum research center demonstrates a new way to use quantum sensors to tease out relationships between microscopic magnetic fields.

    Say you notice a sudden drop in temperature on both your patio and kitchen thermometers. At first, you think it’s because of a cold snap, so you crank up the heat in your home. Then you realize that while the outside has indeed become colder, inside, someone left the refrigerator door open.

    Initially, you thought the temperature drops were correlated. Later, you saw that they weren’t.

    Recognizing when readings are correlated is important not only for your home heating bill but for all of science. It’s especially challenging when measuring properties of atoms.

    Now scientists have developed a method, reported in Science, that enables them to see whether magnetic fields detected by a pair of atom-scale quantum sensors are correlated or not.

    “As far as I know, this is something people hadn’t tried to do, and that’s why we see these correlations where nobody else was able to. You really win from that.” — Shimon Kolkowitz, University of Wisconsin­–Madison

    The research was supported in part by Q-NEXT, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory.

    The ability to distinguish between standalone and correlated environments at the atomic scale could have enormous impacts in medicine, navigation and discovery science.

    What happened

    A team of scientists at Princeton University and the University of Wisconsin–Madison developed and demonstrated a new technique for teasing out whether magnetic fields picked up by multiple quantum sensors are correlated with each other or independent.

    The team focused on a type of diamond-based sensor called a nitrogen-vacancy center, or NV center, which consists of a nitrogen atom next to an atom-sized hole in the crystal of carbon atoms that make up diamond.

    Typically, scientists measure the magnetic field strength at a single NV center by averaging multiple readings. Or they might take an average reading of many NV centers at once.

    While helpful, average values provide only so much information. Knowing that the average temperature in Wisconsin will be 42 degrees Fahrenheit tomorrow tells you little about how much colder it will be at night or in the northern part of the state.

    “If you want to learn not just the value of the magnetic field at one location or at one point in time, but whether there’s a relationship between the magnetic field at one location and the magnetic field at another nearby — there wasn’t really a good way to do that with these NV centers,” said paper co-author Shimon Kolkowitz, associate professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Q-NEXT collaborator.

    The team’s new method uses multiple simultaneous readings of two NV centers. Using sophisticated computation and signal-processing techniques, they obtained information about the relationship between the magnetic fields at both points and could say whether the two readings resulted from the same source.

    “Were they seeing the same magnetic field? Were they seeing a different magnetic field? That’s what we can get from these measurements,” Kolkowitz said. ​“It’s useful information that no one had access to before. We can tell the difference between the global field that both sensors were seeing and those that were local.”

    Why it matters

    Quantum sensors harness the quantum properties of atoms or atom-like systems to pick up tiny signals — such as the magnetic fields arising from the motion of single electrons. These fields are puny: 100,000 times weaker than that of a fridge magnet. Only ultrasensitive tools such as quantum sensors can make measurements at nature’s smallest scales.

    Quantum sensors are expected to be powerful. NV centers, for example, can distinguish features separated by a mere one ten thousandth of the width of a human hair. With that kind of hyperzoom capability, NV centers could be placed in living cells for an inside, up-close look at how they function. Scientists could even use them to pinpoint the causes of disease.

    “What make NVs special is their spatial resolution,” Kolkowitz said. ​“That’s useful for imaging the magnetic fields from an exotic material or seeing the structure of individual proteins.”

    With the Kolkowitz team’s new method for sensing magnetic field strengths at multiple points simultaneously, scientists could one day be able to map atom-level changes in magnetism through time and space.

    How it works

    How did the team make these informative measurements? They got granular.

    Rather than average over many raw values to arrive at the overall magnetic field strength, the researchers kept track of individual readings at each NV center, and then applied a mathematical maneuver called ​“covariance” to the two lists.

    Comparing the covariance-calculated figures — which capture more detail than a couple of raw averages — let them see whether the fields were correlated.

    “We’re doing that averaging differently than what’s been done in the past, so we don’t lose this information in the process of averaging,” Kolkowitz said ​“That’s part of what’s special here.”

    So why hasn’t covariance magnetometry, as the method is called, been tested before now?

    For one, the team had to build an experimental setup for taking simultaneous measurements at multiple NV centers. This microscope was built by the team at Princeton, led by Professor Nathalie de Leon, a member of the Co-Design Center for Quantum Advantage, another DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Center, led by Brookhaven National Laboratory.

    For another, covariance magnetometry works only when the individual measurements of these tiny magnetic fields are highly reliable. (A readout is only as good as its contributing measurements.) That’s why the researchers used a special technique called spin-to-charge conversion, which produces a raw reading with more information about the magnetic field for each measurement than other commonly used tools.

    With spin-to-charge conversion, individual measurements take longer. That’s the price scientists pay for higher reliability.

    However, when combined with covariance to measure minuscule, correlated magnetic fields, it saves buckets of time.

    “Using the conventional method, you’d have to average for 10 full days continuously to get one piece of data to say that you saw this correlated nanotesla signal,” Kolkowitz said. ​“Whereas with this new method, it’s an hour or two.”

    By integrating covariance information with spin-to-charge conversion, researchers can gain access to atomic and subatomic details they didn’t have before, supercharging the already powerful capabilities of quantum sensing.

    “As far as I know, this is something people hadn’t tried to do, and that’s why we see these correlations where nobody else was able to,” Kolkowitz said. ​“You really win from that.”

    This work was supported by the DOE Office of Science National Quantum Information Science Research Centers as part of the Q-NEXT center, the National Science Foundation, the Princeton Catalysis Initiative, the DOE, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, a Princeton Quantum Initiative Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education through an interagency agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

    About Q-NEXT

    Q-NEXT is a U.S. Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Center led by Argonne National Laboratory. Q-NEXT brings together world-class researchers from national laboratories, universities and U.S. technology companies with the goal of developing the science and technology to control and distribute quantum information. Q-NEXT collaborators and institutions will create two national foundries for quantum materials and devices, develop networks of sensors and secure communications systems, establish simulation and network test beds, and train the next-generation quantum-ready workforce to ensure continued U.S. scientific and economic leadership in this rapidly advancing field. For more information, visit https://​q​-next​.org/.

    Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

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  • George Crabtree, energy trailblazer remembered as a ​“great listener” and ​“boundless explorer”, dead at 78

    George Crabtree, energy trailblazer remembered as a ​“great listener” and ​“boundless explorer”, dead at 78

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    Newswise — Distinguished researcher led Argonne’s Joint Center for Energy Storage Research and made pivotal discoveries in high-temperature superconductors.

    George Crabtree, widely recognized and admired as a brilliant, passionate materials scientist and champion of superconducting materials and better batteries, died Jan. 23. He was 78.

    As the director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR) and a preeminent proponent of decarbonization, Crabtree reached the pinnacle of a career that spanned parts of seven decades at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory and that advanced a number of different disciplines and inspired colleagues and friends.

    “I never could have imagined when I first came to Argonne as an undergraduate student that one day I would be directing a big energy storage hub,” Crabtree said recently. ​“That was the farthest thing from my mind. Now I consider that to be one of my best experiences.”

    “As a scientist and a leader, George worked with true integrity and exemplified Argonne’s mission of engaging with some of the biggest challenges facing humanity,” said Argonne Director Paul Kearns. ​“His interest in science and genuine concern for others resulted in a leadership style that was empowering and motivating to generations of colleagues. George had the exceptional ability to bring people together to achieve impactful science for our country.”

    George Crabtree was born on Nov. 28, 1944, in Little Rock, Arkansas, and moved with his family to Illinois when he was 2.

    As a boy, Crabtree was ​“fascinated by the natural world and sought to understand it in all of its complexity,” said JCESR research integration leader Lynn Trahey, whom Crabtree mentored for the past ten years. ​“He told me that when he was young, he was just as interested in biology as physics — he was a boundless explorer.”

    Crabtree first joined Argonne as an intern in 1964 while a college student at Northwestern University. He was hired full-time in 1969 while pursuing his Ph.D. in condensed matter physics at the University of Illinois Chicago, where he took night classes while working.

    In the first part of his career in the last decades of the 20th century, Crabtree’s work focused on the behavior of superconducting materials, in particular their behavior in high magnetic fields. At the time, these materials were mysterious and not well understood, and their mystique held appeal for Crabtree. ​“For me, it was always a curiosity question,” he told the MRS Bulletin.

    Crabtree helped pioneer early research into high-temperature superconductors, which were discovered in 1986. In them, he discovered new phases of superconducting vortex matter. ​“The properties of vortices are important because they are responsible for all the electromagnetic behavior in high-temperature superconductors that could eventually make them useful for applications,” said Argonne materials scientist Ulrich Welp

    “George was a great leader because he had high standards; he elevated everyone around him because he really set an example for everyone else,” said Argonne materials scientist Wai-Kwong Kwok.

    “His leadership style was full of kindness and curiosity,” Trahey said. ​“He wanted to learn and explore and also have a positive impact on society — he was unlimited in what he wanted to learn if it could help him communicate challenges and inspire people.”

    Kwok recalled camping trips that Crabtree would organize for the other scientists in Argonne’s materials science division and their families. ​“He’d be the one up before everyone else making breakfast by the campfire,” he said. ​“In everything, he was truly an endearing person; he cared about more than just work, and his optimism and his hope would just rub off on you.”

    Crabtree’s work on superconductors gained him recognition as a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society and the National Academy of Sciences. At Argonne, he was named a Distinguished Fellow. In 2003, Crabtree won the second ever Kammerlingh Onnes Prize, an international award given to scientists doing work in superconductivity.

    “George was always a great listener, he would listen to everyone’s input and come up with a solution everyone could agree upon,” Kwok said. ​“There would always be something for everyone.”

    In 2012, Crabtree switched gears professionally when he was named director of JCESR. ​“George was educating himself on battery science along with the postdocs and graduate students,” Trahey said. ​“He was never afraid to ask a question, and he treated 19-year-old students and heads of state with equal respect.”

    As director of JCESR, Crabtree oversaw experiments on a wide range of beyond lithium-ion battery chemistries, including redox flow batteries and multivalent batteries. ​“In the later stage of his career, George was deeply passionate about fighting climate change, and used all his skills to encourage conversations and solutions,” Trahey said.

    “George was a leader in many Basic Energy Science (BES) advisory committee studies and BES workshops. He helped to identify priority research directions for basic science from grand challenges for discovery research to foundations for energy technologies. These reports have literally shaped the BES strategic planning and portfolio for the past decade,” said Harriet Kung, deputy director for Science Programs for DOE’s Office of Science. ​“He was a true renaissance scientist — impacting many disciplines across energy and condensed matter physics. He will be greatly missed by the DOE community.”

    In addition to his work in JCESR, Crabtree also served as co-chair of Argonne’s Action Collaborative, a group of researchers and administrators dedicated to eradicating sexual harassment in the workplace. ​“George cared about making work and life better, more inclusive and more fair for everyone,” Trahey said. ​“He was someone who believed in you and inspired you to believe in yourself.”

    Crabtree is survived by his wife Barbara, a stepson and three grandchildren.

    The Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), a DOE Energy Innovation Hub, is a major partnership that integrates researchers from many disciplines to overcome critical scientific and technical barriers and create new breakthrough energy storage technology. Led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, partners include national leaders in science and engineering from academia, the private sector, and national laboratories. Their combined expertise spans the full range of the technology-development pipeline from basic research to prototype development to product engineering to market delivery.

    Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

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  • Lithium-sulfur batteries are one step closer to powering the future

    Lithium-sulfur batteries are one step closer to powering the future

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    Newswise — With a new design, lithium-sulfur batteries could reach their full potential.

    Batteries are everywhere in daily life, from cell phones and smart watches to the increasing number of electric vehicles. Most of these devices use well-known batteries“>lithium-ion battery technology. And while lithium-ion batteries have come a long way since they were first introduced, they have some familiar drawbacks as well, such as short lifetimes, overheating and supply chain challenges for certain raw materials.

    Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are researching solutions to these issues by testing new materials in battery construction. One such material is sulfur. Sulfur is extremely abundant and cost effective and can hold more energy than traditional ion-based batteries.

    In a new study, researchers advanced sulfur-based battery research by creating a layer within the battery that adds energy storage capacity while nearly eliminating a traditional problem with sulfur batteries that caused corrosion.

    “These results demonstrate that a redox-active interlayer could have a huge impact on Li-S battery development. We’re one step closer to seeing this technology in our everyday lives.” — Wenqian Xu, a beamline scientist at APS

    A promising battery design pairs a sulfur-containing positive electrode (cathode) with a lithium metal negative electrode (anode). In between those components is the electrolyte, or the substance that allows ions to pass between the two ends of the battery.

    Early lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries did not perform well because sulfur species (polysulfides) dissolved into the electrolyte, causing its corrosion. This polysulfide shuttling effect negatively impacts battery life and lowers the number of times the battery can be recharged.

    To prevent this polysulfide shuttling, previous researchers tried placing a redox-inactive interlayer between the cathode and anode. The term ​“redox-inactive” means the material does not undergo reactions like those in an electrode. But this protective interlayer is heavy and dense, reducing energy storage capacity per unit weight for the battery. It also does not adequately reduce shuttling. This has proved a major barrier to the commercialization of Li-S batteries.

    To address this, researchers developed and tested a porous sulfur-containing interlayer. Tests in the laboratory showed initial capacity about three times higher in Li-S cells with this active, as opposed to inactive, interlayer. More impressively, the cells with the active interlayer maintained high capacity over 700 charge-discharge cycles.

    “Previous experiments with cells having the redox-inactive layer only suppressed the shuttling, but in doing so, they sacrificed the energy for a given cell weight because the layer added extra weight,” said Guiliang Xu, an Argonne chemist and co-author of the paper. ​“By contrast, our redox-active layer adds to energy storage capacity and suppresses the shuttle effect.”

    To further study the redox-active layer, the team conducted experiments at the 17-BM beamline of Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source (APS), a DOE Office of Science user facility. The data gathered from exposing cells with this layer to X-ray beams allowed the team to ascertain the interlayer’s benefits.

    The data confirmed that a redox-active interlayer can reduce shuttling, reduce detrimental reactions within the battery and increase the battery’s capacity to hold more charge and last for more cycles. ​“These results demonstrate that a redox-active interlayer could have a huge impact on Li-S battery development,” said Wenqian Xu, a beamline scientist at APS. ​“We’re one step closer to seeing this technology in our everyday lives.”

    Going forward, the team wants to evaluate the growth potential of the redox-active interlayer technology. ​“We want to try to make it much thinner, much lighter,” Guiliang Xu said.

    A paper based on the research appeared in the Aug. 8 issue of Nature Communications. Khalil Amine, Tianyi Li, Xiang Liu, Guiliang Xu, Wenqian Xu, Chen Zhao and Xiao-Bing Zuo contributed to the paper.

    This research was sponsored by the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Vehicle Technologies Office Battery Materials Research Program and the National Research Foundation of Korea.

    About the Advanced Photon Source

    The U. S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory is one of the world’s most productive X-ray light source facilities. The APS provides high-brightness X-ray beams to a diverse community of researchers in materials science, chemistry, condensed matter physics, the life and environmental sciences, and applied research. These X-rays are ideally suited for explorations of materials and biological structures; elemental distribution; chemical, magnetic, electronic states; and a wide range of technologically important engineering systems from batteries to fuel injector sprays, all of which are the foundations of our nation’s economic, technological, and physical well-being. Each year, more than 5,000 researchers use the APS to produce over 2,000 publications detailing impactful discoveries, and solve more vital biological protein structures than users of any other X-ray light source research facility. APS scientists and engineers innovate technology that is at the heart of advancing accelerator and light-source operations. This includes the insertion devices that produce extreme-brightness X-rays prized by researchers, lenses that focus the X-rays down to a few nanometers, instrumentation that maximizes the way the X-rays interact with samples being studied, and software that gathers and manages the massive quantity of data resulting from discovery research at the APS.

    This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.

    Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

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  • Chris Heckle named manufacturing director at Argonne National Laboratory

    Chris Heckle named manufacturing director at Argonne National Laboratory

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    Newswise — Heckle’s deep technical knowledge and record of innovation to help advance U.S. technological leadership in materials manufacturing at a critical time.

    Globally recognized research and development leader Chris Heckle has been appointed as the first director of the Materials Manufacturing Innovation Center (MMIC) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory. 

    Argonne established the MMIC with the goal of bringing advanced materials and chemical manufacturing technologies — including energy storage and others essential for the clean energy transition — to market faster, by cultivating and sustaining partnerships between the laboratory and the private sector, DOE, universities and other stakeholders.  

    “I’m thrilled for this opportunity to support materials and chemical processing companies by connecting stakeholders and Argonne’s impressive variety of capabilities and people.” — Chris Heckle, incoming director of Argonne’s Materials Manufacturing Innovation Center 

    Heckle most recently served as research director for Inorganic Materials Research and Asia Research Labs for Corning Incorporated. She is a materials informatics champion who over a 25-year career has facilitated technology innovation across business units for multiple industries, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. She brings to Argonne experience in creating a manufacturing platform that opened new market opportunities for Corning in energy storage, as well as a demonstrated record of translating megatrends into technical thrusts and accelerating product timelines through introduction and adoption of new tools. 

    “I’m thrilled for this opportunity to support materials and chemical processing companies by connecting stakeholders and Argonne’s impressive variety of capabilities and people,” Heckle said. ​“And I’m passionate about people development, which is essential to prepare a new generation of technology and manufacturing leaders for our nation.” 

    To help partners commercialize new materials, Argonne manufacturing experts leverage a one-of-a-kind combination of facilities — including the Materials Engineering Research Facility, Advanced Photon Source and Argonne Leadership Computing Facility — to rapidly develop and scale up materials discovered at the laboratory bench (gram-scale) to commercially relevant quantities (hundreds of kilograms) produced using cost-effective, scalable processes. 

    “We are pleased that Chris has chosen to join our team,” said Megan Clifford, associate laboratory director for Science and Technology Partnerships and Outreach at Argonne. ​“Her deep technical knowledge and record of innovation and motivational leadership will guide the laboratory in making meaningful and long-lasting partner connections, to fulfill the MMIC mission of advancing U.S. technological leadership in materials manufacturing at a critical time.”   

    Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

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  • Argonne wins 3 HPCwire awards

    Argonne wins 3 HPCwire awards

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    Newswise — The awards recognize collaborative science using high performance computing.

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has been recognized with three awards from HPCwire, a leading website covering the high performance computing industry. The awards were announced Nov. 14 at SC22, the annual supercomputing conference in Dallas, Texas.

    The awards recognize Argonne’s leadership in high performance computing, including collaborations with industry. Today’s scientific advances often depend on the ability to solve large complex problems relatively quickly with powerful computers and algorithms. Argonne has been using high performance computing for goals ranging from more efficient engines to exploring the cosmos.

    “These awards recognize projects that are quite distinct in their own ways, but they share a common theme: collaboration.” — Rick Stevens, Argonne associate laboratory director for the Computing, Environment and Life Sciences division and an Argonne Distinguished Fellow

    In addition to world-leading computer science expertise, the Lab is home to the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), a DOE Office of Science user facility. HPCwire honored Argonne with several awards last year.

    Improving artificial intelligence tools

    Work led by Argonne to broaden usability for artificial intelligence (AI) models won a Readers’ Choice Award in the Best Use of High Performance Data Analytics & Artificial Intelligence category.

    The research aims to make data science more easily reproducible through a set of principles known as FAIR: findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. The team included scientists from Argonne, The University of Chicago, National Center for Supercomputing Applications and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. They created a computational framework that enables artificial intelligence models to run seamlessly across various types of hardware and software platforms and yield the same results.

    The research was funded by DOE’s Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Science Foundation and Argonne Laboratory Directed Research and Development grants. To perform the computations, the team used the ALCF AI Testbed’s SambaNova system and the Theta supercomputer’s NVIDIA graphics processing units. The data for the study was acquired at the Advanced Photon Source, also a DOE Office of Science user facility.

    Collaborating with industry for real-world solutions

    Argonne received another Readers’ Choice Award in the Best Use of HPC in Industry (Automotive, Aerospace, Manufacturing, Chemical) category. Together with the Raytheon Technologies Research Center, Argonne developed machine learning models for designing and optimizing high-efficiency gas turbines in aircraft. The machine learning models were trained on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations of gas turbine film cooling performed on DOE supercomputers. CFD simulations approximate how fluids like air or fuel move, and they are key to enhancing efficiency in machines of all kinds. The researchers’ framework can extend fuel efficiency and durability of aircraft engines while slashing design times and costs. The work is funded by DOE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office via the HPC4EnergyInnovation program.

    In the same industry category, Argonne also won an Editors’ Choice Award for its work with Aramco Americas and Convergent Science focused on high fidelity CFD simulations of hydrogen engines using resources at ALCF and Argonne’s Laboratory Computing Resource Center. The work will help expedite the adoption of clean, highly efficient hydrogen propulsion systems for the transportation sector, facilitating an accelerated transition to low-carbon energy.

    “These awards recognize projects that are quite distinct in their own ways, but they share a common theme: collaboration,” said Rick Stevens, Argonne associate laboratory director for the Computing, Environment and Life Sciences division and an Argonne Distinguished Fellow. ​“We are pushing to move scientific insights from supercomputing into real-world solutions.”

    The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility provides supercomputing capabilities to the scientific and engineering community to advance fundamental discovery and understanding in a broad range of disciplines. Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program, the ALCF is one of two DOE Leadership Computing Facilities in the nation dedicated to open science.

    About the Advanced Photon Source

    The U. S. Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory is one of the world’s most productive X-ray light source facilities. The APS provides high-brightness X-ray beams to a diverse community of researchers in materials science, chemistry, condensed matter physics, the life and environmental sciences, and applied research. These X-rays are ideally suited for explorations of materials and biological structures; elemental distribution; chemical, magnetic, electronic states; and a wide range of technologically important engineering systems from batteries to fuel injector sprays, all of which are the foundations of our nation’s economic, technological, and physical well-being. Each year, more than 5,000 researchers use the APS to produce over 2,000 publications detailing impactful discoveries, and solve more vital biological protein structures than users of any other X-ray light source research facility. APS scientists and engineers innovate technology that is at the heart of advancing accelerator and light-source operations. This includes the insertion devices that produce extreme-brightness X-rays prized by researchers, lenses that focus the X-rays down to a few nanometers, instrumentation that maximizes the way the X-rays interact with samples being studied, and software that gathers and manages the massive quantity of data resulting from discovery research at the APS.

    This research used resources of the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357.

    Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

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  • Argonne and Oak Ridge national laboratories collaborate with Wabtec on hydrogen-powered trains to decarbonize rail industry

    Argonne and Oak Ridge national laboratories collaborate with Wabtec on hydrogen-powered trains to decarbonize rail industry

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    Newswise — Hydrogen-powered trains on track to decarbonize the rail industry.

    As the United States shifts away from fossil fuel burning cars and trucks, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are exploring options for another form of transportation: trains. The research focuses on zero carbon hydrogen and other low-carbon fuels as viable alternatives to diesel for the rail industry.

    Both laboratories have entered into cooperative research and development agreements with Wabtec, a leading manufacturer of freight locomotives. The Argonne and Wabtec agreement also includes Convergent Science, a software developer. The project will run for four years.

    Researchers from the multidisciplinary team kicked off the project and celebrated the installation of rail technology company Wabtec’s single cylinder dual-fuel locomotive engine in the National Transportation Research Center, a DOE-designated user facility located at ORNL, during a Nov. 9 event.

    “While hydrogen has been used in light-duty combustion engines, it is still a very new area of research in railway applications.” — Muhsin Ameen, Argonne senior research scientist

    Hydrogen as fuel has many advantages, but locomotive engines must be modified to ensure safe, efficient and clean operation. The team will develop hardware and control strategies for the engine, which will run on hydrogen and diesel fuel to demonstrate the viability of using alternative fuels.

    “We are excited to be a part of this collaboration because it addresses the need to decarbonize the rail industry by advancing hydrogen engine technology for both current and future locomotives,” said Josh Pihl, an ORNL distinguished researcher and group leader for applied catalysis and emissions research. ​“It is also a perfect example of how a DOE-funded collaboration between industry and national laboratories can accelerate the development and commercialization of technologies to help reduce carbon emissions from transportation.”

    Pihl said the project aligns with the goals of DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Office to use low-carbon fuels in hard-to-electrify transportation sectors. While electrifying vehicles is an effective strategy in reducing carbon emissions from  some parts of the transportation sector, railways are considered more difficult because of the high cost of building a single coordinated electrified rail system across North America. Each year, the North American rail fleet emits approximately 87.6 billion pounds of carbon dioxide, a major driver of climate change.

    Researchers are exploring the potential of hydrogen combustion engine technology in the rail industry, said Muhsin Ameen, Argonne senior research scientist. Hydrogen is an energy carrier that can be produced from clean energy sources such as solar and wind power. Scientists have studied hydrogen-powered vehicles for decades.

    “To reduce carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050, we must make dramatic improvements in energy efficiency and emissions in the overall transportation system, including railways,” said Ameen. ​“Hydrogen has been used in light-duty combustion engines. However, hydrogen is a newer area of research in railway applications.”

    The research team is developing combustion technology to power the next generation of trains with up to 100% hydrogen and other low-carbon fuels. The team’s goal is to design train engines that will deliver the same power, range and cost-effectiveness as current diesel technology.

    “This collaboration with Argonne and Oak Ridge national laboratories with DOE support will advance the development of hydrogen technology within Wabtec’s existing industry-leading platforms for medium-speed engines. Railroads will be able to greatly reduce emissions and operating costs while maintaining commonality within their current fleet of trains,” said James Gamble, vice president of Engine & Power Solutions Technology at Wabtec.

    In the project’s first phase, the ORNL team will work on hardware changes for retrofitting locomotives. Their goal is to reduce CO2 emissions from the roughly 25,000 locomotives already in use in North America. Locomotives have a service life of more than 30 years, so replacing the entire fleet would take decades.

    During the second phase of the project, Argonne will leverage more than a decade of experience in modeling hydrogen injection and combustion to create a modeling framework to study combustion and emission control technologies used in hydrogen combustion engines. Experts in fuel injection, kinetics and combustion modeling, design optimization, high performance computing and machine learning will take the project from start to finish.

    At the same time, ORNL and Wabtec will continue to alter the engine hardware to increase the amount of hydrogen that can be used. The team aims to completely replace diesel with hydrogen or low-carbon fuels in new locomotives.

    Scientists are using Argonne’s high performance computers to develop simulation software. This tool will help predict the behavior of combustion engines as operating conditions change and hardware is modified. Simulations help researchers understand the combustion process, which drives engine efficiency and reduces emissions.

    Each diesel-powered locomotive that is converted to a zero- or low-carbon energy source is anticipated to save up to 5.6 million pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

    Along with Ameen, the Argonne team includes group leader and principal research scientist Riccardo Scarcelli, postdoctoral fellow Samuel Kamouz and principal engine research scientist Christopher Powell.

    In addition to Pihl, the ORNL team includes research engineers Dean Edwards and Eric Nafziger and research mechanic Steve Whitted.

    The project is funded by the Vehicle Technologies Office under DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and Wabtec. In-kind contributions are provided by Wabtec and Convergent Science. The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration is also funding related research on safe use of hydrogen in locomotive engines.

    Wabtec Corporation (NYSE: WAB) is focused on creating transportation solutions that move and improve the world. The company is a leading global provider of equipment, systems, digital solutions and value-added services for the freight and transit rail industries, as well as the mining, marine and industrial markets. Wabtec has been a leader in the rail industry for over 150 years and has a vision to achieve a zero-emission rail system in the U.S. and worldwide. Visit Wabtec’s website at: www​.wabtec​corp​.com.

    UT-Battelle manages ORNL for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

    Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

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  • Setting a New Course for All About Energy, a Data-Driven Program for Chicago High School Students

    Setting a New Course for All About Energy, a Data-Driven Program for Chicago High School Students

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    Newswise — Argonne National Laboratory updates All About Energy program to focus on data-driven research into environmental justice issues in local Chicago communities.

    Pollution, food accessibility, transportation and lead exposure are just some of the sustainability concerns found throughout various Chicago communities.

    Students from those communities participated in a data-focused program examining those issues as they prepared for careers as future leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

    In the annual All About Energy (AAE) program, students embark on a six-week apprenticeship that the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory hosts in collaboration with the University of Chicago’s Office of Civic Engagement and After School Matters.

    “To address sustainability issues, you need to consider not only environmental concerns, but also social and economic factors. The new curriculum for AAE prepares students to strengthen their data analysis skills in order to draw conclusions and develop evidence-based arguments. Furthermore, it empowers them to advocate for communities as STEM leaders, no matter what pathway they choose for their studies and careers.” — Jacqueline Otmanski, Learning Center instructor

    This year marked a new beginning for AAE in more ways than one. Not only did AAE feature in-person activities for the first time since the start of the pandemic in 2020, but the program also had a much different theme than even just a year ago. Instead of centering the activities on sustainability plans like in the past, the staff running the program took AAE in a different direction: analyzing data and preparing data-driven advocacy.

    AAE challenges high school students from across Chicago to research data and raise awareness of environmental justice issues that affect local communities. Students analyzed data via mapping tools and other public data sets to identify local communities’ specific concerns and determine how different factors overlap.

    “To address sustainability issues, you need to consider not only environmental concerns, but also social and economic factors,” said Argonne’s Learning Center instructor, Jacqueline Otmanski. ​“The new curriculum for AAE prepares students to strengthen their data analysis skills in order to draw conclusions and develop evidence-based arguments. Furthermore, it empowers them to advocate for communities as STEM leaders, no matter what pathway they choose for their studies and careers.”

    Inspired by Argonne’s ongoing research into electrical vehicle accessibility as part of the federal Justice40 initiative to support environmental justice, the AAE program kicked off with a camp-wide data investigation on electric vehicle accessibility. Through this process, students learned data analysis skills. The remaining weeks, students worked on group projects on different environmental justice topics in Chicago, ranging from water runoff, to food accessibility, to health.

    In addition, AAE students had the opportunity to visit Argonne and attend its annual Learning on the Lawn poster symposium for research interns — held in person for the first time since 2020. While there, AAE participants also toured several facilities at the lab, including the Smart Energy Plaza and the Center for Transportation Research.

    “AAE definitely opened my eyes to the reality of environmental injustice in Chicago and the severity of the problem,” said high school student Meghan Cuddy. She studied air pollution in Chicago for her project and saw how poor air quality harms communities on the south side of the city. ​“I hope to continue to work in environmental science and to one day help solve the problems that we learned about in the program.”

    This year’s focus on building important skills like data analysis and networking left a positive impact on students and staff alike.

    “The great thing about AAE is that this is truly a community effort,” said Argonne’s Learning Center program coordinator, Azucena Rodriguez. ​“Not only do we collaborate with the UChicago for the program, but we design AAE to be accessible for Chicago students. The environmental challenges that students research and find solutions to have direct impact on their communities. These new changes to the curriculum will build ties between Argonne and Chicago communities, and they will empower the next generation of local STEM leaders.”

    To learn more about how students discover new possibilities in STEM with Argonne through AAE and other programs at the lab, check out the Argonne Education Instagram page.

    Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

    The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.

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