University Research | U.S. DOE Office of Science (SC)

New Biofuel Production System Powered by a Community of Algae and Fungi

MSU scientists have a new proof of concept for a biofuel production platform that uses two species of marine algae and soil fungi. It lowers cultivation and harvesting costs and increases productivity, factors that currently hold back biofuels from being widely adopted.

New Insights into Semiconductors for Spintronic Applications from Hard X-Ray Photoemission

“Spintronics” holds promise for new types of devices for information processing and data storage, with ones and zeros being stored in the spin state of electrons as well as their electric charge. Such devices could be faster and more energy efficient than current electronics.

Organizing Quantum Dots May Improve Consumer Electronics

Carnegie Mellon University Materials Science and Engineering Professor Michael Bockstaller and his team are working on ways for quantum dots, or nanoparticles created from a specific semiconductor, to self-assemble into organized patterns. The research may help improve the quality of image displays for electronic devices like televisions.

Internship Profile: Swati Narasimhan, Mechanical Engineering’19

University of Miami student Swati Narasimhan spent her summer as a research intern in the Battery Manufacturing Facility, working with the Roll-to-Roll Manufacturing Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Department of Energy Invests $1.1 Million in Sorghum Disease Resistance Research at Illinois

Sorghum is traditionally grown for the grain, but newer cultivars have been developed to maximize vegetative biomass, a key trait for lignocellulosic bioenergy production. But before sorghum can meet its full potential as a bioenergy crop, it will need to become more resistant to diseases that can reduce its ability to produce biomass.

Higgs Particle's Favorite 'Daughter' Comes Home

In experiments conducted at the Large Hadron Collider, a team including Princeton University researchers has identified a long-sought pathway by which the Higgs boson decays into two other particles, known as bottom quarks.

The Career Pivot: It's Not Just for People

Originally known solely for its work in high energy physics, SLAC pivoted its accelerator in 2009 to the LCLS, which looks at everything from living cells to chemical reactions. This December, the laser will go dark for two years to make way for its daunting successor—LCLS-II, which will be 10,000 times brighter.

UH Engineer Part of $800K DOE Study Targeting Safer Storage for Nuclear Waste

Dr. Jeffrey Rimer, with the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering, is studying the corrosion behavior of glass containers often used to store nuclear waste. Its goal is to find solutions to reduce or avoid the degeneration of the containers.

Paris Perdikaris Predicts Complex Outcomes of Physical Systems

An assistant professor in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Perdikaris is taking a new approach to modeling complex and unpredictable physical systems, research that is being funded by an Early Career Award from the Department of Energy (DOE).

Scientists Take Important Step Toward Understanding Higgs Boson Decay

The Large Hadron Collider collaborations ATLAS and CMS jointly announced the discovery of the Higgs boson transforming into bottom quarks as it decays. This is predicted to be the most common way for Higgs bosons to decay, yet was a difficult signal to isolate because background processes closely mimic the subtle signal.

Ions: The Good and The Bad

William Weber, UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Radiation Effects on Materials, and the Ion Beams Material Laboratory are looking at the good and the bad of ions.

Read more about Ions: The Good and The Bad

Catalyst Advance Could Lead to Economical Fuel Cells

Researchers at Washington State University have developed a new way to make low-cost, single-atom catalysts for fuel cells — an advance that could make important clean energy technology more economically viable.