Award Data

A key application of the technological breakthrough associated with decreased cost of DNA sequencing is metagenomics. Metagenomics is the process of sequencing DNA from whole ecosystems, rather than individuals or cultures. This approach has the potential to allow the dissection of microbial ecosystems in biofuel producing agricultural land, toxic contaminated sites and hydrocarbon recovery enviro ...

The exploration and production (E&P) of oil and natural gas is one of the most computationally demanding endeavors, generating terabytes of data. To optimize the management of a producing oil field or to find new reserves, the E&P data must be readily available to a multidisciplinary asset management team. The data must be easy to access, and it must be effectively managed by a team of geologist ...

Coal is an abundant source of energy in the USA, but is not currently utilized effectively. Recently, the DOE has begun a carbon sequestration program is to develop advanced CO2 capture and compression technology for existing coal-fired plants with increased efficiency with no more than a 35% increase in the cost of electricity. This will require new approaches and technologies to be successful. N ...

The Exascale Computing Project is tasked to develop the next generation of high performance computing systems capable of computing at 50 to 100 times faster than current HPC systems. Computing at this extreme-scale will significantly enhance the value of materials modeling and simulation to basic materials research and engineering In particular, computing at the extreme scale will enable a higher ...

The problem being addressed is the development of high intensity ultrashort pulse lasers, in recognition that today’s ultra-high intensity lasers are limited to repetition rates of < 10 Hz. Technical solutions are sought to enable the generation of high energy (joule-level) laser pulses that can be focused to highly relativistic intensity at high repetition rates (100-1000 Hz). The proposed proj ...

Computer-aided Engineering software that apply the Finite Element Method to perform a multi-physics analysis have received widespread acceptance for traditional macro-scale material systems. Challenges persist in the modeling of complex coupled processes in environmental/thermal barrier coatings (E/TBCs) used to protect substrate material against the corrosive environment in the hot section parts ...

Electrons play a very key role in plasma chemistry and dynamics of low temperature plasmas. Improved capability for measuring electron number density, ne, and electron energy distribution function, EEDF, in weakly ionized low temperature plasmas would benefit both fundamental study and application areas. For example, the capability would directly benefit emerging research targeted at modifying and ...

Due to the current oil crisis, the United States has begun to focus on alternative energy sources for transportation and other domestic applications. Methanol offers a renewable alternative to many fossil fuels that can be a raw material for the synthetic hydrocarbons and their products. ISL proposes to fabricate a photo-electrochemical cell that converts carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas which can ...

Proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cells (p-SOFCs) offer significant advantages in operating temperature and fuel utilization compared to other types of fuel cells. This project will advance the materials science and manufacturing technology for ceramic proton-conducting solid oxide fuel cells (p-SOFCs). The approach will utilize commercially viable processes for powder synthesis and cell fabri ...

Development of Li-ion conducting membranes capable of supporting Li-metal anode to enable high- performance Li-metal batteries (LiMB) is a priority for the Department of Energy (DOE). State-of- the-art membranes used for Li-ion batteries (LiB) are not suitable for LiMB and have a number of disadvantages including poor cycling performance, low Li-ion conductivity, and electrochemical stability with ...