Collaborators: University of Chicago; Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource  
 
Under certain conditions, oxygen corrodes uranium dioxide in nuclear fuel rods, creating problems during routine operations and in emergency situations. Scientists discovered that uranium dioxide corrosion follows a different path than expected. The research, published in Physical Review Letters, gives scientists accurate information to understand the start of corrosion, possibly leading to new ways to avoid corrosion-related failures, and providing insights regarding uranium contamination in the subsurface.   
Collaborators: Utah State University   
 
California is experiencing one of the most severe droughts in its history, but it's not clear if a warmer world will make droughts worse, more frequent or perhaps even improve the situation. New research published in Nature Communications suggests that the weather patterns known as El Niño and La Niña could at least double extreme droughts and floods in California later this century.  
Collaborators: Pennsylvania State University; Temple University; University of Copenhagen; Montana State University   
 
Scientists demonstrated how the diel cycle - the 24-hour period encompassing night and day - affects the production of chemicals used as metabolites in microbial mats. Understanding these impacts can help efforts to use microbes to produce biochemicals and bioenergy. The team's work was published in Frontiers in Microbiology
.   
Collaborators: State University of New York at BinghamtonUniversity of Manchester; Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik; Oak Ridge National Laboratory
 
Materials that are both electrically conductive and optically transparent are needed for more efficient technologies, from flat panel displays to solar cells. An international team of scientists developed a new material, created by modifying a transparent insulating oxide and replacing up to 25 percent of the lanthanum ions in the host material with strontium ions. This new perovskite film conducts electricity more effectively than the unmodified oxide, yet retains much of the transparency to visible light exhibited by the pure material. The team's research was published in Advanced Materials.  
Collaborators: Washington State University; University of Alabama; Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences   
 
New research could help researchers design faster, more stable and more efficient catalysts by indicating ways to create more active sites or protect existing sites from degrading during such reactions - or both. The work was published in ACS Catalysis
 
 

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Opportunities, News & Scientific Resources  
 
         Young
 
       Campbell
 
        Lumetta
 
      Mathaudhu
    
New Deputy Director: Malin M. Young, a biochemist with extensive experience leading bioenergy and national security research programs, was named PNNL Deputy Director for Science and Technology. She will integrate science and technology capabilities to address national challenges in science, energy, the environment and national security. She also will manage the Lab's institutional science and technology investments, and technology commercialization efforts.
   
ACS Leadership: Allison Campbell, a chemist and director of a large PNNL research organization, was elected 2016 president-elect of the American Chemical Society - the world's largest scientific society.

Opportunity: PNNL is seeking the next generation of scientists and engineers for the Linus Pauling Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship. Pauling Fellows are mentored by internationally recognized researchers and equipped with the resources to carry out a research program of their own design.

Innovation: Each year, R&D Magazine honors the year's 100 most innovative scientific and technological breakthroughs. Five of this year's winners are PNNL technologies that that impact cyber security, increase our ability to detect trace amounts of chemicals, convert sewage into fuel, view energy processes under real-world conditions and forecast future electric needs.

Lecture Series: The PNNL Laboratory Director's Distinguished Lecture Series on November 30 will feature Dr. John C. Doyle of the California Institute of Technology. He will present "Universal Laws and Architectures: Theory and Lessons from Brains, Nets, Hearts, Bugs, Grids, Flows, and Zombies." PNNL will broadcast this presentation via Periscope; follow PNNL social media for updates.

Partnership: PNNL and Arizona State University formalized an agreement for research collaboration to address global challenges in areas ranging from climate science to energy security and other aspects of global security.

Congratulations: PNNL chemist Gregg Lumetta was recently selected to receive the Glenn T. Seaborg Actinide Separations Award recognizing significant and lasting contributions to separating actinide elements, such as plutonium and uranium.

Opportunity: The Laboratory is seeking high-performing, newly graduated Ph.D. scientists who have the potential to become full-time scientific staff at EMSL, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory at PNNL. Candidates for the William Wiley Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship must display superb ability in scientific research and show the promise of becoming leaders in their field.
 
Highly Cited: PNNL scientists Phil Rasch, Steven Ghan and Richard Easter - all experts in Earth systems analysis and modeling - were named to the prestigious Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers 2015 for geosciences.
 
Achievement: materials scientist Suveen Mathaudhu was recently elected to the rank of Fellow of ASM International, the world's largest association of metals-focused materials scientists and engineers.
 
Launched: A first-of-its-kind computing proving ground, the Center for Advanced Technology Evaluation (CENATE), will evaluate early technologies to predict their overall potential and guide designs to help hone future technology.
 
Statewide Collaboration: The State of Washington will host a three-campus demonstration of transaction-based energy management. Funded by the State and Department of Energy, the project focuses on research to develop and demonstrate technologies needed to create "smart" buildings, campuses and cities. The effort will be led by scientists and engineers from PNNL, Washington State University and the University of Washington.
 
Securing Critical Infrastructure: PNNL was selected to be a part of the Cyber Resilient Energy Delivery Consortium (CREDC).
 




At PNNL, interdisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers address America's most pressing challenges in energy, environment and national security through advances in basic and applied science. Founded in 1965, PNNL employs 4,400 staff and has an annual budget of nearly $1 billion. It is managed by Battelle for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. PNNL science & technology is strategically focused on inspiring and enabling the world to live prosperously, safely and securely.








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.