DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is leading a $10-million, five-year multi-institutional National Institutes of Health study to devise 3-D imaging and computational models of unsurpassed detail of respiratory systems in humans and other mammals. The grant will enable PNNL and its partners to devise imaging and simulation techniques that offer a better understanding of the fate of airborne contaminants in the respiratory system. The new tool could lead to improved treatments for asthma and other respiratory ailments. The research will culminate in a “pulmonary physiome,” a web-based model for researchers and clinicians. PNNL's collaborators are the University of Washington , University of California at Davis , the University of Iowa, Oregon State University, University of Utah, CIIT Centers for Health Research of Research Triangle Park, N.C., Mountain-Whisper-Light Statistical Consulting of Seattle and Computational Geometry Consulting of Los Alamos, N.M.

[Bill Cannon, 509/375-3732;
cannon@pnl.gov]

ORNL scientists hang with fast crowd

NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick in the No.29 Mr. Goodwrench Chevrolet leads the pack during a recent race at California Speedway.

NASCAR teams seeking a racing edge are making pit stops at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory for high-tech tips to better performance. Racing teams, some of them nationally recognized, are turning to ORNL's High Temperature Materials Laboratory to study ways to enhance a car's ability to race at high speeds. The HTML helps solve problems in advanced energy conversion systems—such as race cars—to make them more efficient and reliable. The HTML's instruments have extensive capabilities for characterizing the microstructure, microchemistry and physical and mechanical properties of materials over a wide range of temperatures— valuable capabilities when dealing with high levels of heat and stress produced by stock cars.

[Fred Strohl, 865/574-4165;
strohlhf@ornl.gov]

Size matters in determining strength of metals, inorganic material

A new research technique developed by a team of researchers including Jeff Florando of DOE's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has shown that the mechanical properties of nickel and some of its alloys—such as their ability to resist permanent deformation under stress—are directly affected by the material's dimensions. The research, reported recently in Science , suggests that as the size of a specimen shrinks to a few microns (millionths of a meter) or less, the mechanisms by which the sample deforms can be strongly affected. “This finding is important because of the increasing use of materials with micron-size dimensions in the miniaturization of electronic devices and other equipment,” Florando said. “These physical conditions need to be taken into consideration when attempting to determine the strength of a given material.” Florando said the research team, led by Michael D. Uchic of the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio, developed a new technique for testing materials at the microscale using a Focused Ion Beam microscope and a nanoindentation system to create and test micron and sub-micron scale compression samples.

[Charles Osolin, 925/422-8367;
osolin1@llnl.gov]

Advanced direct contact condenser

An advanced direct-contact condenser (ADCC) developed at DOE's National Renewable Energy Laboratory has improved production efficiency by five percent, cut the chemical cost for emission abatement in half and increased overall power generation by 17 percent at the Geysers geothermal power plant in California. This proven technology, licensed to Alstom Energy Systems, Inc., can be used for fossil-fuel power plants, food processing or any other industrial process where condensers are employed. The ADCC increases the efficiency and generating capacity in electric power plants while reducing pollution by using sophisticated geometric shapes to provide the most efficient mixing of steam and water.

[Sarah Barba, 303/275-3023;
Sarah_Barba@nrel.gov]

ORNL microscope sets 'small' mark

ORNL Z-contrast STEM image of a silicon crystal with 0.6 angstrom resolution

DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers, using a state-of-the-art microscope and new computerized imaging technology, have pushed back the barrier of how small we can see--to a record, atom-scale 0.6 angstrom. ORNL, a Department of Energy national laboratory, also held the previous record, at 0.7 angstrom. As reported in the Sept. 17 issue of Science, researchers obtained the improved resolution with ORNL's 300-kilovolt Z-contrast scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), aided by an emerging technology called aberration correction. The direct images have been acknowledged as proof of atom-scale resolution below one angstrom and provide researchers with a valuable tool for designing advanced materials.

[Bill Cabage, 865/574-4399;
cabagewh@ornl.gov]

Lab dives into coastal security research effort

Nearly $6 million in Congressional appropriations will fund a new coastal security program designed to develop advanced sensors capable of providing early warning of biological, chemical or nuclear material releases in marine and coastal environments. The research program will be based at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Sequim Marine Research Operations facility in Washington state and will involve both laboratory work and field testing. It will draw on the scientific and technical experience and expertise the Sequim laboratory has developed for marine environmental issues over the last 40 years. Under one phase of the program, PNNL will evaluate the use of living marine systems such as clams and mussels as biosensors to concentrate and detect the presence of biological, chemical or nuclear materials in coastal waterways, beaches and estuaries.

[Greg Koller, 509/372-4864;
greg.koller@pnl.gov]

ORNL's Delmau excels on
land and water

Lætitia Delmau

Lætitia Delmau's progression from her native France to DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has provided opportunities both in research and recreation. The Marseilles native, now a researcher in ORNL's Chemical Sciences Division, came to the United States and ORNL first as a student in 1992.

Following frequent stints at ORNL including summer terms and a postdoctoral appointment, Lætitia joined the Lab's research staff in 2000, where her work has focused on chemical separations work toward nuclear waste treatment.

Specializing in studies of separation science with an emphasis on thermodynamics, radiochemistry and physical chemistry, she was instrumental in the development of a selected process for removing radioactive cesium from nuclear waste material.

Those types of successes have recently brought recognition, including selection as one of this year's TR100 group of the world's top young innovators selected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Technology Review.

Besides excelling in her research, Lætitia has also continued her French hobbies of playing clarinet, where she performs in a community pops ensemble, and scuba diving, in which she has 130 dives worth of experience.

Although she prefers diving in the clear waters off the Florida Keys, her many volunteer activities include local river and lake cleanups.

"It's amazing what you find underwater sometimes, including cars and pay phones," she says.

Add to those activities two American pursuits: target shooting and whitewater kayaking. Lætitia shoots weekly at a local sports society, enough to earn a distinguished expert rating with a .22 cal. rifle. Mountain streams have led to a newfound enthusiasm for another water sport.

"It's heaven around here for kayaking," she says.

On dry land, her energies have resulted in more than 40 open-literature publications including 15 journal articles, a book chapter and three patents.

Submitted by DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory