Four Oak Ridge National Laboratory
researchers are among the 69 scientists that will receive five-year research
grants as part of the Department of Energy's new Early Career Research Program.
The $85 million program, funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act by the department's Office of Science, is designed to support exceptional
researchers during the crucial early career years, when many scientists do their
most formative work. ORNL's grants will be at least $500,000 per year to cover
year-round salary plus research expenses.
Daniel Bardayan of ORNL's Physics Division was selected for "Studies of
Nuclear Reactions that Drive Stellar Explosions and Synthesize the Elements,"
funded by the Office of Nuclear Physics. Bardayan previously received a Presidential
Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and is a former Wigner fellow.
Questions about how the elements were created and what drives stars and stellar
explosions can only be answered with measurements of reactions on short-lived,
unstable nuclei. Since targets of these short-lived nuclei cannot be fabricated
(they decay very quickly) these measurements require accelerator-based experiments
with beams of exotic nuclei such as those available at ORNL's Holifield Radioactive
Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF).
The goal of Bardayan's project is to combine exotic beams at the HRIBF with
a new high-density supersonic gas-jet target to make direct studies of the astrophysical
reactions and nuclei that drive stellar explosions and synthesize the elements.
Phillip Bingham of ORNL's Measurement Science & Systems Engineering Division
was selected for "Research and Development of Detection Systems for Neutron
Imaging," funded by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
Bingham's effort is to develop a high-resolution transmission imaging system
that will extend the application of neutron imaging to micro-scale structures,
enabling groundbreaking research in areas such as renewable energy, energy storage,
efficient transportation, and biofuels.
Current state-of-the-art neutron radiography reaches the 10-15 micrometer resolution
range with high-cost detectors; however, typical resolutions are on the order
of no better than 50 micrometers. The proposed development will result in an
increased resolution in the 1 micrometer range using less expensive, lower-resolution
detectors through the use of a magnified detection system.
Kalyan Perumalla of the Computational Sciences & Engineering Division was
selected for "ReveR-SES: Reversible Software Execution Systems," funded
by the Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research.
Perumalla's proposal builds on his unique combination of expertise in reversible
software systems and high-end parallel computing. "It is aimed at a paradigm
shift in ultra-scale computing, called reversible software execution, which
holds new promise in the area of high performance computing," Perumalla
said.
His research focuses on the application of novel reversible (anti-) computation
methodologies, ultimately aimed at addressing multiple challenges in ultra-scale
computing, including energy consumption, performance optimization, fault tolerance
and debugging.
Athena S. Sefat of ORNL's Materials Science and Technology Division was selected
for "Origin of Superconductivity in Structurally Layered Materials,"
funded by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
The goal of this project is to understand the fundamental mechanisms that produce
superconductivity at high temperatures in structurally layered materials.
The work will be focused on materials design and synthesis but will also include
significant efforts in theoretical calculations and neutron scattering. Superconducting
materials have the potential to impact a variety of energy relevant technologies,
including power generation and transmission, particularly if materials can be
found that can carry more current and operate at higher temperatures. Ultimately
this research could lead to the discovery of new superconductors with superior
properties compared with current materials.
The final details for each project award are subject to contract negotiations
between DOE and the awardees.
Posted February 4th, 2010
