The Department of Energy’s Office of Science has selected five Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists for Early Career Research Program awards.
The program, now in its twelfth year, provides support to exceptional researchers during their early career years, when many scientists do their most formative work, in scientific fields critical to the Office of Science’s mission.
“Maintaining our nation’s brain trust of world-class scientists and researchers is one of DOE’s top priorities — and that means we need to give them the resources they need to succeed early on in their careers,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. “These awardees show exceptional potential to help us tackle America’s toughest challenges and secure our economic competitiveness for decades to come.”
"The vitality of our laboratory and our impact in critical fields relies entirely on our scientists’ skill and their ability to pursue their passions," ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia said. "We look forward to the contributions these gifted scientists will make in advancing clean energy technologies and scientific discovery.”
The ORNL researchers receiving awards are:
Matthew Beidler, a physicist in the Fusion Energy Division, was selected by the Fusion Energy Sciences Program for his proposal, “Hybrid Kinetic-Fluid Modeling of Tokamak Disruption Mitigation.”
Melissa Cregger, an ecologist in the Biosciences Division, was selected by the Biological and Environmental Research Program for her proposal, “Understanding the Effects of Populus — Mycorrhizal Associations on Plant Productivity and Resistance to Abiotic Stress.”
Fankang Li, a neutron method development scientist in the Neutron Technologies Division, was selected by the Basic Energy Sciences Program for his proposal, “Resolving the Structure and Dynamics of Advanced Materials with Unprecedented Resolution.”
Kiersten Ruisard, an accelerator physicist in the Research Accelerator Division, was selected by the High Energy Physics Program for her proposal, “Advancing Accelerator Beam Modeling via High-dimensional Phase Space Diagnostics at a High Intensity Injector Test Stand.”
Daisuke Shiraki, an experimental plasma physicist in the Fusion Energy Division, was selected by the Fusion Energy Sciences Program for his proposal, “Precision Science and Control of Pellet Fueling for Optimizing Tokamak Plasma Scenarios.”
The researchers will receive $500,000 annually to cover their salary and research expenses over a planned five years. The final details for each project award are subject to final grant and contract negotiations between DOE and the awardees.