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

Next-gen Camera for South Pole Telescope Takes Data on Early Universe

The South Pole Telescope, specially designed to measure the cosmic microwave background, is using its third-generation camera to carry out a multi-year survey to observe the earliest instants of the universe. University of Chicago professor Bradford Benson headed the effort to develop and manufacture new sensors at multiple collaborating universities around the country to build this new, ultra-sensitive camera.

Heat Transfer Surprise Could Lead to Thermal Transistors

As much as 100 times more heat than predicted by the standard radiation theory can flow between two nanoscale objects, even at bigger-than-nanoscale distances, researchers at the University of Michigan and the College of William and Mary have reported in the journal Nature.

Xu Earns Early Career Award to Advance Next-gen Electronics

Xiaoshan Xu, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, is using a $750,000 award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Early Career Research Program to develop a novel approach that could advance the field of spintronics.

Kansas State University Graduate Student Awarded Department of Energy Fellowship

Olivia Hull, a doctoral student in Christine Aiken's research group at Kansas State University, has been awarded a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship to support her research into physical chemistry.

More Ships and More Clouds Mean Cooling in the Arctic

UConn geographer Scott Stephenson and colleagues say the growth of trans-Arctic shipping and the increase in emissions that will accompany it may offset some of the overall warming trend in the Arctic by the end of the century.

Climatologists Obtain Grant to Develop New Climate Sensitivity Information

Climatologists at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) have received a grant from the United States Dept. of Energy to develop a new method of determining how the Earth’s climate is responding to greenhouse gases that they think will be more accurate than current methods.

Raj Wins Graduate Student Fellowship from DOE to Study Lithium Ion Batteries

Abhi Raj, a Ph.D. candidate in electrical engineering, has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as one of 47 recipients of a fellowship from the Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program. The awards support doctoral-thesis research and allow students to work for up to 12 months in one of 17 DOE laboratories.

Blazes of Light Reveal How Plants Signal Danger Long Distances

Michigan State University was part of a multi-university study that revealed how plant communication systems respond to threats from herbivores. The results, featured in Science, show that once wounded, plants use calcium signals to warn distant tissues of future attacks.

Harnessing Microbial Communities' Division of Labor for Biofuel, Chemical Production

Researchers at the University of Illinois Institute for Genomic Biology aim to understand more about the division of labor in microbial communities in a new project led by IGB faculty Ting Lu, an associate professor of bioengineering, and Yong-Su Jin, a professor of food science and human nutrition.

ASU Research Finds Better Predictors of Metal Structure Failures

An Arizona State University research team has released new insights about intergranular stress-corrosion cracking (SCC), an environmental cause of premature failure in engineered structures, including bridges, aircraft and nuclear power generating plants.

University of Richmond Professor Jerry Gilfoyle Awarded $275,000 U.S. Department of Energy Grant for Nuclear Physics Research

This renewal grant supports the University’s electromagnetic nuclear physics program at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator facility (JLab). Located in Newport News, JLab is the newest U.S. national laboratory and recently completed a $340 million upgrade.

A New Dimension for Batteries

Engineers at the University of Maryland have created a thin battery, made of a few million carefully constructed “microbatteries” in a square inch. Each microbattery is shaped like a very tall, round room, providing much surface area – like wall space – on which nano-thin battery layers are assembled.