2008 JDRD Awards

Nineteen proposals were submitted for first-year funding, each joined to one of the 35 funded ORNL LDRD projects. Eight were funded by the Science Alliance at a total of $400,000. Factors that influenced the selections included the following:

  • Opportunities for new faculty members to establish collaborations at ORNL
  • Prospects for future external funding
  • Inclusion of graduate and undergraduate students in the research
  • Proposals that were especially timely or strategic for UT Knoxville

2008 Awards

New Projects

  1. Development of highly efficient organic white electroluminescence for solid-state lighting
  2. Doping control of epitaxial TiOx and TiO2 thin film hetero-structures for photo-electrochemical solar energy conservation
  3. Investigating the physical properites of magnetic nanoparticles
  4. High-performance computational tools for systems genetic analysis
  5. Survey of fungal component of the gut microbiome
  6. Cross-scale interactions and ecological system dynamics: pattern-process relationships through space and time
  7. Plant-soil feedbacks impact carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling: impacts of biofuel crops?
  8. Linkage between soil microbial activities in the rhizosphere and functional characteristics of dissolved organic matter

Second-year Projects

  1. 3D blind deconvolution of STEM data
  2. Assessing the role of sensory mechanisms in defining microbial activities
  3. Atomistic simulation of interfacial metal ion extraction
  4. An investigation of anaerobic microbial fuel cell performance
  5. Resonant ultrasound studies of quasi-2D cobalt oxide thermoelectrics
  6. Investigation of nano-scale thermo/electro/mechanical energy conversions
  7. Nanofabricated scanning probe microscopy tips for enhanced detection of molecular photo electrochemical processes