News Releases

Researchers at ORNL have developed a tool that gives builders a quick way to measure, correct and certify level foundations. FLAT, or the Flat and Level Analysis Tool, examines a 360-degree laser scan of a construction site using ORNL-developed segmentation algorithms and machine learning to locate uneven areas on a concrete slab. 

The fifth annual Quantum Science Center, or QSC, Summer School at Purdue University, held Apr. 21 through Apr. 25, 2025, welcomed its largest group of students to date. Experts from industry, academia and national laboratories gathered at the Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute to share their research in multiple areas of quantum science.

UT-Battelle has contributed up to $475,000 for the purchase and installation of advanced manufacturing equipment to support a program at Tennessee’s Oak Ridge High School that gives students direct experience with the AI- and robotics-assisted workplace of the future. 

Analyzing massive datasets from nuclear physics experiments can take hours or days to process, but researchers are working to radically reduce that time to mere seconds using special software being developed at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley and Oak Ridge national laboratories. 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories is being credited with saving the Department of Energy $439 million as part of a more efficient way of doing business with suppliers. That’s more than any other DOE site nationwide.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a vacuum-assisted extrusion method that reduces internal porosity — by up to 75% — in large-scale 3D-printed polymer parts. Large-scale additive manufacturing has been hindered by internal porosity that weaken printed components. Reducing porosity is key to improving overall performance. ORNL researchers tackled this challenge with a novel approach: integrating a vacuum hopper during the extrusion process to remove trapped gases and minimize void formation in fiber-reinforced materials.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Colorado Boulder used a gene-silencing tool and a large library of molecular guides to understand how photosynthetic bacteria adapt to light and temperature changes. They found that even partial suppression of certain genes yielded big benefits in modifying the stress response of wild microbes. 

Fan was recently named Outstanding Researcher by the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer, a group dedicated to accelerating federal technologies in the marketplace.