VOLUME 11 | ISSUE 01 | SPRING 2018

SCIENTISTS 

IN SYNC

pg. 20

APS 

UPGRADE: 

BEAM US UP

pg. 26

SECRET 

LIVES OF 

SCIENTISTS

pg. 32

SCIENCE BEHIND 

THE FICTION: 

STRANGER THINGS

pg. 42

From Stagg Field to Supercomputers

pg. 14

THE PHYSICS

THAT CHANGED THE

EXPERIMENT

WORLD
THE SECRET LIVES OF SCIENTISTS 

Environmental scientist Andrew Orr learns to sail 

aboard a tall ship during his 6,000-mile voyage 

from Argentina to South Africa via Antarctica.

SEVEN THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT: 

DISASTER RESILIENCE

Argonne’s new flood prediction tool promises 

to reduce threat from an all-too-common 

natural disaster.

ARGONNE IN THE MARKETPLACE 

Understanding 3-D printing in microscopic 

detail could potentially transform manufacturing 

technology one thin layer at a time.

EDUCATION 

High school students develop clean energy 

plans for Chicago neighborhoods during 

popular summer program.

CROWDSOURCE

Scientists reflect upon surprises that nature has 

unveiled in gut microbes, cancer computation, the 

versatility of lasers, and the manufacturing genome.

SCIENCE BEHIND THE FICTION

Netflix’s Hawkins National Laboratory and Argonne 

are both devoted to detecting invisible dangers, but 

the similarities mostly stop there.

ASK A SCIENTIST: HOW ADVANCED COULD 

ARTIFICIAL INTELLLIGENCE BECOME?

The impact of artificial intelligence on specific, 

narrow tasks will continue to expand, but humans 

will likely hold the monopoly on thinking.

BY THE NUMBERS

Scientists first observed wakefield acceleration, 

a phenomenon in which energy increases over 

short distances within electron accelerators, at 

Argonne 30 years ago. 

32

34

36

38

40

42

44

45

SPRING 2018

THE SECRET LIVES 

OF SCIENTISTS

32

SCIENCE 

BEHIND 

THE FICTION

42

COVER: THE PHYSICS EXPERIMENT 

THAT CHANGED THE WORLD

As World War II raged, a handful of scientists 

gathered beneath the football stands of the 

University of Chicago for a physics experiment 

that would very literally change the world.

SCIENTISTS IN SYNC

From artificial intelligence to energy storage, 

four of Argonne’s newest division directors 

celebrate the laboratory’s collaborative spirit.

BEAM US UP 

The Advanced Photon Source is one of the 

world’s highest-energy synchrotron radiation 

sources, and it’s about to become even 

more effective.

14

20

26

Features

THIS YEAR IN SCIENCE HISTORY

HIGHLIGHTS

Supercomputers could unlock the mysteries 

of the universe, a newly designed material 

flourishes through forgetfulness, Air Force 

aims high, reusable sponge takes industry 

by storm, and more.

AROUND THE LABS 

News and discoveries from our 

sister national laboratories.

7 

12

6

News

Articles

2 ARGONNENOW
THE PHYSICS 

EXPERIMENT 

THAT CHANGED 

THE WORLD

14

SCIENTISTS IN SYNC

20

BEAM US UP

26

EDUCATION:

AFTER-SCHOOL 

ENERGY RUSH

38

SPRING 2018 3
Faces in this Issue

30

SANTANU CHAUDHURI

41

Chaudhuri marvels over nature’s ability to 

precisely synthesize a wide variety of materials.

What is the biggest surprise 

nature has handed you? 

RICK STEVENS

Stevens ponders the 

effective application 

of machine learning 

to cancer and other 

research endeavors.

What is the biggest 

surprise nature has 

handed you? 41

CYNTHIA JENKS

Jenks leads 

Chemical Sciences 

and Engineering in 

pursuing reduced 

energy costs and 

converting waste into 

useful materials.

Scientists 

in Sync

CRISTINA NEGRI 

Negri, Director 

of Environmental 

Science, looks to 

computers to better 

understand weather 

patterns in small 

geographic areas.

Scientists 

in Sync 20

KAWTAR HAFIDI

Hafidi, Director of 

Physics, drives efforts 

to investigate quarks 

and other mysterious 

subatomic particles.

Scientists 

in Sync 20

PRASANNA 

BALAPRAKASH

Balaprakash dispels 

the notion that artificial 

intelligence will one 

day outperform 

humans in all tasks. 

How advanced 

could artificial 

intelligence

become? 44 ROBERT O. HETTEL

Hettel is the APS 

Upgrade Project 

Director and will 

oversee the installation 

of the world’s ultimate 

three-dimensional 

microscope. Turn to 

page 30 for more 

about his new role.

APS Project 

Gets New Leader

Taylor heads Mathematics and Computer Science, 

and embraces multiple technologies to meet the 

world’s computational needs.

Scientists in Sync 

VALERIE TAYLOR

20

SPRING 2018

20

4 ARGONNENOW
Dear readers,

It is an honor to bring you more stories of Argonne 

National Laboratory, where our science changes 

the world. Every day our 3,200 employees build 

on our proud history of discovery and innovation, 

helping us to be known for our ideas and for safely 

delivering lasting impact on society through our 

exemplary research and operations.

Exemplary research begins with exemplary 

leadership. In this issue, we introduce you to five 

women recently chosen to lead the laboratory’s Environmental Science, 

Mathematics and Computer Science, Physics, Chemical Sciences and 

Engineering, and Nuclear and Waste Management divisions. They are driving 

discoveries in next-generation materials and energy, unlocking the mysteries 

of the cosmos, advancing artificial intelligence, and supporting safe and 

compliant research. They’re also opening new doors for women 

and minorities who seek to work in their respective fields.

Exceptional research also demands world-class facilities. Learn how an 

upgrade to Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source (APS) will revolutionize 

knowledge of materials’ structures and propel progress in science, medicine, 

and technology. With a beam already a billion times more powerful than 

a doctor’s X-ray, the APS has helped researchers find better ways to use 

energy, sustain the nation’s technological and economic competitiveness, 

and fight disease. Imagine along with us the kind of scientific impact a beam 

500 times brighter will have.

In this issue, we also tell you about our laboratory’s role in the 

U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Exascale Computing Project. 

The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF) is the future home of 

Aurora, an exascale system being developed by Intel in partnership with 

Cray for deployment by 2021. Argonne scientists are developing applications, 

systems, software, and hardware to take advantage of tremendous new 

computing power and overcome grand challenges in energy, materials, 

climate, medicine, and more. 

All that we do here at Argonne supports the DOE mission. See scenes from 

a January visit by U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, who toured the APS 

and ALCF as well as our unique facilities that enable battery advancements 

and support American industrial success by producing innovative materials 

for energy. Secretary Perry inspired our employees with a message of 

Argonne as an “influential” and “consequential” place. We could not agree 

with him more. 

Keep up with the laboratory at www.anl.gov and talk to us — you can 

continue the conversation online with @argonne on Twitter and on the 

Argonne National Laboratory page on Facebook.

Enjoy this issue of ArgonneNOW.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE

This report was prepared as an account of work 

sponsored by an agency of the United States 

Government. Neither the United States 

Government nor any agency thereof, nor 

UChicago Argonne, LLC, nor any of their 

employees or officers, makes any warranty, 

express or implied, or assumes any legal liability 

or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, 

or usefulness of any information, apparatus, 

product, or process disclosed, or represents that 

its use would not infringe privately owned rights. 

Reference herein to any specific commercial 

product, process, or service by trade name, 

trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not 

necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, 

recommendation, or favoring by the United States 

Government or any agency thereof. The views and 

opinions of document authors expressed herein 

do not necessarily state or reflect those of the 

United States Government or any agency thereof.

Argonne is a U.S. Department of Energy 

laboratory managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC. 

The laboratory’s main facility is outside Chicago at 

9700 South Cass Avenue, Lemont, Illinois 60439. 

ON THE COVER

This image represents the temperature in 

a natural circulation toroidal loop, where 

red and its shades are hot, and blue and 

its shades are cold. Natural convection 

loops represent the prototype for safety 

systems that are important for new 

nuclear reactor designs.

EDITOR

Dave Bukey

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Abby Miesen 

EDITORIAL BOARD

Paul Kearns

Leslie Krohn

Chris Kramer

Rick Stevens

Stephen Streiffer

Mike Norman 

Jeffrey Binder

Suresh Sunderrajan

PHOTOGRAPHY

Wes Agresta

Mark Lopez

Andrew Orr

DESIGN

Cara Hotz

Lidia Hernandez

ILLUSTRATION

Rich Lo

Robert Corwin

CONTRIBUTORS

Jo Napolitano

Brett Hansard

John Spizzirri 

Vic Comello

Steve Koppes

Kathryn Jandeska

Joan Koka

Louise Lerner 

COPYEDITING

Carolyn Steele

Andrea Manning

Katherine Obmascik 

PRODUCTION

Gary Weidner

John Schneider

Send correspondence and questions to:

ArgonneNOW

Communications & Public Affairs

Argonne National Laboratory

9700 South Cass Avenue, Building 201

Lemont, IL 60439

argonnenow@anl.gov

630-252-5526

ARGONNE

PAUL KEARNS

Director, Argonne National Laboratory

SPRING 2018 5
Argonne researchers created xenon tetrafluoride, 

the first molecule based on xenon, a noble gas 

thought previously to be chemically inert. The 

creation led to a major shift in the way chemical 

bonds are studied.

56 YEARS AGO

1962

76 YEARS AGO

1942

On December 2, a group of 49 scientists led 

by Enrico Fermi created the world’s first controlled, 

self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction under the 

west stands of the University of Chicago’s 

Stagg Field.

Designed and managed by 

Argonne scientists since 

its deployment in 1992, the 

DOE’s Atmospheric Radiation 

Measurement Southern 

Great Plains observation site 

continues to provide important 

data to scientists worldwide 

for use in climate research.

1992

26 YEARS AGO

An Argonne researcher laid 

the theoretical foundation 

for quantum computing by 

developing the first model of 

a Turing machine based on 

quantum mechanics. Quantum 

computers promise to solve 

certain computing problems far 

faster than today’s computers.

1982

36 YEARS AGO

Contributions by Argonne scientists 

enabled the ATLAS experimental 

collaboration at the Large Hadron 

Collider to yield data that helped confirm 

the discovery of the Higgs boson, a 

previously elusive elementary particle. 

2012

6 YEARS AGO

This Year in Science History

NEWS

6 ARGONNENOW
If you have ever had to wait those agonizing minutes 

in front of a computer for a movie or large file to load, 

you’ll likely sympathize with the plight of cosmologists 

at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National 

Laboratory. But instead of watching TV dramas, they 

are trying to transfer the huge amounts of data that 

make up movies of the universe — computationally 

demanding and highly intricate simulations of how 

our cosmos evolved after the Big Bang. 

In a new approach to enable scientific breakthroughs, 

researchers linked together supercomputers at the 

Argonne Leadership Computing Facility and the 

National Center for Supercomputing Applications at 

the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This 

linkage enabled scientists to transfer massive amounts 

of data and run two different types of demanding 

computations in a coordinated fashion — referred to 

technically as a workflow.

What distinguishes the new work from typical workflows 

is the scale of the computation, the associated data 

generation and transfer, and the scale and complexity 

of the final analysis. 

For cosmology, observations of the sky and 

computational simulations go hand in hand, as each 

informs the other. Cosmological surveys are becoming 

ever more complex as telescopes peer out more deeply 

into space and time, mapping out the distributions of 

galaxies at farther and farther distances and at earlier 

epochs of the evolution of the universe.

The very nature of cosmology precludes carrying 

out controlled lab experiments, so scientists rely 

instead on simulations to provide a unique way to 

create a virtual cosmological laboratory. “We talk about 

building the ‘universe in the lab,’ and simulations are 

a huge component of that,” said Argonne cosmologist 

Katrin Heitmann. 

Not just any computer is up to the immense challenge 

of generating and dealing with datasets that can 

exceed many petabytes a day. “You really need highperformance supercomputers that are capable of not 

only capturing the dynamics of trillions of different 

particles, but also doing exhaustive analysis on the 

simulated data,” Heitmann said. 

Adapted from an article by Jared Sagoff and Austin Keating. 

Research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office 

of Science and the National Science Foundation. The team 

used resources of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, 

the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility, the Energy Science 

Network, and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing 

Center, which are DOE Office of Science User Facilities, during 

their research.

BIG BANG – THE MOVIE

These images show a simulated sky image 

of galaxies produced by running Argonnedeveloped high-performance computing codes 

and then running a galaxy formation model. 

Highlights

NEWS

CHECK OUT ARGONNE’S VIDEO AT

youtu.be/-oCtLJmFXng

SPRING 2018 7
Even as the power of our modern computers grows 

exponentially, biological systems — like our brains  — 

remain the ultimate learning machines. By finding 

materials that act in ways similar to the mechanisms that 

biology uses to retain and process information, scientists 

hope to find clues to help us build smarter computers.

Inspired by human forgetfulness — how our brains 

discard unnecessary data to make room for new 

information — scientists at the U.S. Department of 

Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, in collaboration 

with Brookhaven National Laboratory and three 

universities, conducted a recent study that combined 

supercomputer simulation and X-ray characterization of 

a material that gradually “forgets.” This approach could 

one day be used for advanced bio-inspired computing. 

“The brain has limited capacity, and it can only function 

efficiently because it is able to forget,” said Subramanian 

Sankaranarayanan, an Argonne nanoscientist and study 

author. “It’s hard to create a nonliving material that shows 

a pattern resembling a kind of forgetfulness, but the 

specific material we were working with can actually 

mimic that kind of behavior.”

The material, called a quantum perovskite, offers 

researchers a simpler non-biological model of 

what “forgetfulness” might look like on an electronic 

level. The perovskite shows an adaptive response 

when protons are repeatedly inserted and removed 

that resembles the brain’s desensitization to a 

recurring stimulus. 

Quantum simulations performed at the Argonne 

Leadership Computing Facility probed the origin of 

this adaptive response. 

As the material responds to protons that scientists add 

and subtract, its ability to resist an electrical current can 

be severely affected. This behavior allows the material 

to be effectively programmed, like a computer, by the 

proton doping. Essentially, a scientist could insert or 

remove protons to control whether or not the perovskite 

would allow a current.

The perovskite material and the resulting neural network 

algorithms developed by Sankaranarayanan and his team 

could help create more efficient artificial intelligence 

capable of facial recognition, reasoning, and human-like 

decision making. Scientists are continuing the research 

to discover other materials with these brain-like 

properties and new ways to program these materials.

Adapted from an article by Savannah Mitchem. Research was funded 

by the U.S. Army Research Office, U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific 

Research, C-SPIN, Intel Corporation, and the Vannevar Bush Faculty 

Fellowship. The team used resources of the Center for Nanoscale 

Materials and the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, both DOE 

Office of Science User Facilities, during this research.

Science, technology, and national security come together 

in a personal and powerful way through the U.S. Air Force 

Fellows program at the U.S. Department of Energy’s 

Argonne National Laboratory, which over the summer 

became a second home to Lt. Col. Chris Snyder and 

Maj. Sean “Skeet” Richardson. 

Snyder and Richardson were chosen for the 

prestigious one-year national program after a rigorous 

selection process based on merit, rank in their respective 

career fields, and education and experience relevant 

to the Argonne mission. The program promotes open 

communication between the Air Force and Argonne and 

encourages collaborations to benefit the Departments 

of Energy and Defense.

“The fellowship is an opportunity for both participants to 

expand their knowledge and experience with the basic 

and applied sciences at which Argonne excels,” said 

Argonne’s Keith Bradley, who leads the lab’s National 

Security Programs.

The Air Force, like all branches of the military, depends 

heavily on science, technology, engineering, and math, 

including hallmark research conducted at Argonne. 

For example, stealth aircraft employ some of the most 

advanced composite materials, made possible in part 

because of discoveries by scientists and facilities 

at Argonne and other national laboratories.

This program, which began in 2003, is aimed at 

bringing the Air Force and the broader scientific 

community together to foster greater collaboration

and understanding.

AIR FORCE FELLOWS AIM HIGH AT ARGONNE

FORGET ABOUT IT

From left to right: Badri Narayanan, Hua Zhou, Subramanian Sankaranarayanan, 

and Mathew Cherukara

Highlights

NEWS

8 ARGONNENOW
Lt. Col. Chris Snyder and Maj. Sean “Skeet” Richardson were selected for 

a prestigious one-year national program to promote open communication 

between the Air Force and Argonne and encourage collaborations to benefit 

the Departments of Energy and Defense.

Snyder, a distinguished graduate of the Air Force 

Test Pilot School, is the executive officer for the Test 

and Evaluation Directorate of Headquarters Air Force 

in Washington, D.C. His current research at Argonne 

involves how the Air Force should invest to speed up 

the qualification and certification process for additively 

manufactured metal parts intended for aviation or 

space use. 

Richardson is an F-16 experimental test evaluator 

pilot and assistant director of operations at the 416th 

Flight Test Squadron, Edwards Air Force Base, California. 

He is working with Argonne colleagues to better 

understand the capabilities and limitations of machine 

learning, so the Air Force can formalize an effective and 

efficient acquisition process for systems that include 

machine learning. 

Adapted from an article by Ron Walli. Funding for the Air Force 

Fellowship program is provided by the U.S. Air Force.

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry 

visited Argonne National Laboratory in January, 

getting a first-hand view of the multifaceted and 

interdisciplinary laboratory. 

In his first stop at Argonne since his confirmation as 

Secretary of Energy last year, Perry toured two of 

the laboratory’s standout national user facilities: the 

Advanced Photon Source (APS) and the Argonne 

Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF).

The APS, which annually hosts thousands of users 

from around the world, is currently slated for an 

upgrade, which will dramatically increase the 

brightness of X-rays it produces for use in a wide 

range of different experiments.

The ALCF, which like the APS is a DOE Office of Science 

User Facility, hosts one of the nation’s fastest computers, 

called Mira. The ALCF is scheduled to be the future home 

of a new exascale high-performance supercomputer — 

called Aurora — by 2021.

“The combination of world-leading expertise and stateof-the-art facilities found at Argonne keep America at 

the forefront of scientific discovery and technological 

breakthroughs,” Perry said. “Argonne and the other 

16 Department of Energy National Laboratories sit at 

the heart of America’s innovation engine.”

Perry also toured Argonne’s Electrochemical Discovery 

Laboratory, where researchers work to develop nextgeneration beyond-lithium-ion batteries. Perry spent 

time at the Materials Engineering Research Facility as 

well, where energy storage and other materials are 

scaled up for potential commercialization.

“Argonne leads discoveries in countless scientific fields  — 

from developing novel imaging and X-ray technology to 

introducing the exascale era of computing,” said 

Argonne director Paul Kearns. “The laboratory also 

fosters open and productive partnerships with a range 

of industries to ensure the future competitiveness of 

our nation’s businesses and enhance national defense 

and cybersecurity.”

In an open town hall meeting with Argonne staff, 

Perry said that he valued the laboratory’s pursuit of 

energy breakthroughs that have produced economic 

benefits while making America more secure.

He was joined on his tour of Argonne by Rep. Bill Foster 

(D-IL), as well as representatives from local DOE site 

management and the University of Chicago. 

Adapted from an article by Jared Sagoff.

ARGONNE WELCOMES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SECRETARY PERRY

Secretary of Energy Rick Perry (right) and Eric Isaacs (center), Executive Vice 

President for Research, Innovation and National Laboratories at the University 

of Chicago, discuss materials scaled up at Argonne’s Argonne’s Materials 

Engineering Research Facility.

SPRING 2018 9
The University of Chicago is collaborating with the 

U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National 

Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory 

to launch an intellectual hub for advancing academic, 

industrial, and governmental efforts in the science and 

engineering of quantum information. 

This hub within the Institute for Molecular Engineering, 

called the Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE), will 

facilitate the exploration of quantum information and 

the development of new applications with the potential 

to dramatically improve technology for communication, 

computing, and sensing. 

Quantum mechanics governs the behavior of matter at 

the atomic and subatomic levels in exotic and unfamiliar 

ways compared to the classical physics used to 

understand the movements of everyday objects. The 

engineering of quantum phenomena could lead to new 

classes of devices and computing capabilities, permitting 

novel approaches to solving problems that cannot be 

addressed using existing technology.

“The combination of the University of Chicago, Argonne 

National Laboratory, and Fermi National Accelerator 

Laboratory, working together as the Chicago Quantum 

Exchange, is unique in the domain of quantum 

information science,” said Matthew Tirrell, dean and 

Founding Pritzker Director of the Institute for 

Molecular Engineering and Argonne’s deputy 

laboratory director for science. 

The collaboration will benefit from UChicago’s 

Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 

which supports the creation of innovative businesses 

connected to UChicago and Chicago’s South Side. 

The CQE will have a strong connection with a major 

Hyde Park innovation project that will enable the 

transition from laboratory discoveries to societal 

applications through industrial collaborations and 

start-up initiatives.

This new quantum ecosystem will provide a collaborative 

environment for researchers to invent technologies in 

which all the components of information processing — 

sensing, computation, storage, and communication — 

are kept in the quantum world. 

This contrasts with today’s mainstream computer systems, 

which frequently transform electronic signals from laptop 

computers into light for internet transmission via fiber 

optics, transforming them back into electronic signals 

when they arrive at their target computers, finally to 

become stored as magnetic data on hard drives.

Adapted from an article by Steve Koppes.

CHICAGO QUANTUM EXCHANGE TO CREATE 

TECHNOLOGICALLY TRANSFORMATIVE ECOSYSTEM

Argonne, the University of Chicago, and Fermilab are launching an intellectual hub called the Chicago Quantum Exchange to advance academic, industrial, and 

governmental efforts in the science and engineering of quantum information. Above: An illustration of a blinking quantum dot in its ‘on’ state. 

(Image courtesy of Nicholas Brawand.)

Highlights

NEWS

10 ARGONNENOW
ARGONNE’S REUSABLE SPONGE 

COULD REVOLUTIONIZE OIL AND 

DIESEL CLEANUP

When the Deepwater Horizon drilling pipe blew 

out seven years ago, beginning the worst oil spill in 

U.S. history, those in charge of the recovery discovered 

a new wrinkle: the millions of gallons of oil bubbling 

from the sea floor weren’t all collecting on the surface 

where they could be skimmed or burned. Some of it was 

forming a plume and drifting through the ocean under 

the surface.

Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) 

Argonne National Laboratory have invented a new foam, 

called the Oleo Sponge, that addresses this problem. 

The material not only easily absorbs oil from water, but is 

also reusable and can pull dispersed oil from the entire 

water column — not just the surface.

“The Oleo Sponge offers a set of possibilities that, as 

far as we know, are unprecedented,” said co-inventor 

Seth Darling, a scientist with Argonne’s Center for 

Nanoscale Materials and the Director of the Institute 

for Molecular Engineering at Argonne.

Previously, Darling and fellow Argonne chemist 

Jeff Elam had developed a technique called 

sequential infiltration synthesis, or SIS, which can 

be used to infuse hard metal oxide atoms within 

complicated nanostructures.

After some trial and error, they found a way to adapt the 

technique to grow an extremely thin layer of metal oxide 

“primer” near the foam’s interior surfaces. This serves as 

the perfect glue for attaching the oil-loving molecules, 

which are deposited in a second step; they hold onto the 

metal oxide layer with one end and reach out to grab oil 

molecules with the other.

The result is Oleo Sponge, a block of foam that easily 

adsorbs the oil from the water. The material, which looks 

a bit like an outdoor seat cushion, can be wrung out to 

be reused — and the oil itself recovered.

“The material is extremely sturdy. We’ve run dozens to 

hundreds of tests, wringing it out each time, and 

we have yet to see it break down at all,” Darling said.

Adapted from an article by Louise Lerner. Research was funded by 

the U.S. Coast Guard and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental 

Enforcement. The team used resources of the Center for Nanoscale 

Materials, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, in the development 

of the material.

Argonne postdoctoral researcher Ed Barry wrings out a sheet of 

Oleo Sponge during tests at Argonne. 

Argonne scientist Seth Darling, who co-invented the material, 

helps wring out the Oleo Sponge during testing. The Oleo 

Sponge can be wrung out, the oil collected, and the material 

reused — it has stood up to dozens of cycles so far without 

breaking down. 

Argonne scientists tested the material’s performance in 

saltwater at Ohmsett, the National Oil Spill Response Research 

& Renewable Energy Test Facility, a massive outdoor seawater 

tank in New Jersey for testing cleanup technology.

CHECK OUT ARGONNE’S VIDEO AT

youtu.be/zCx5bzLlRmc

SPRING 2018 11
BURROWING NEUTRINOS

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory 

Batavia, Illinois

Tiny, invisible particles known as neutrinos travel through 

our bodies and our universe every single day, yet we still 

don’t have a clear picture of what they do or their role in 

the creation of the universe. To understand them better, 

Fermilab will be projecting these tiny particles through 

800 miles of underground rock as part of a leadingedge international experiment. These particles will be 

captured by a detector in the Sanford Underground 

Research Facility in South Dakota, and the measurements 

recorded will provide transformative insights into neutrino 

properties, as well as the formation of black holes and the 

possibility of proton decay.

NEWS+DISCOVERIES 

FROM OUR 

SISTER NATIONAL 

LABORATORIES

RECREATING 

DIAMOND SHOWERS 

ON FAR-FLUNG PLANETS

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Stanford, California

The high-temperature and high-pressure conditions 

on Neptune and Uranus may be causing diamonds 

to rain down on these giant planets. At SLAC, 

researchers have observed this “diamond rain” for 

the first time by simulating these extreme planetary 

conditions in the lab with the help of lasers. Their 

technique caused tiny diamonds to form over fractions 

of a second. X-ray snapshots captured their formation 

and will help researchers understand the structure 

and formation of these distant planets.

COOKING UP FUEL 

USING SOLAR POWER

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)

Berkeley, California

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

have led the creation of a light-activated material that 

can chemically convert carbon dioxide into carbon 

monoxide, without generating unwanted waste products 

like methane. The carbon monoxide gas generated can 

be further engineered to make liquid fuels, solvents, 

and other useful products. Their achievement represents 

a critical step toward generating solar-powered fuels 

for mass consumption and stemming emissions of 

greenhouse gases.

COMPILED BY JOAN KOKA

Around the Labs

DISSECTING THE 

GLUE THAT HOLDS THE 

UNIVERSE TOGETHER

Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility 

Newport News, Virginia

The beam of the newly upgraded Continuous Electron 

Beam Accelerator Facility at the Jefferson Lab now 

has double the energy, and has begun running its first 

experiments. The facility collides electrons and atoms 

to enable researchers to study the particles that make 

up the atom’s nucleus, and the forces that mediate 

how these particles interact. With the new upgrade, 

researchers can apply new methods for studying 

these forces and interactions to uncover how the 

universe came to be. 

NEWS

12 ARGONNENOW
RAMPING UP 

DISEASE-FIGHTING 

TREATMENTS

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) 

Upton, New York

Radioisotopes — radioactive forms of chemical 

elements — play a lead role in tracking and treating 

diseases like cancer, and in imaging physiological 

processes, like the flow of blood. Yet not all are easy 

to produce — some require the use of high-energy 

accelerators, like the one at Brookhaven National 

Laboratory. To accelerate the production of these 

radioisotopes, laboratory researchers have incorporated 

a new scanning system. The system is designed to 

increase the production of a variety of radioisotopes, 

helping to meet the needs of health practitioners and 

patients across the nation.

SENDING 

SOFTWARE 

TO SCAN THE SKIES

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)

Richland, Washington

Offshore wind turbines can provide a huge source 

of energy for the nation, but may pose a risk to 

neighboring creatures. To encourage the safe 

deployment of these technologies, while promoting 

environmental safety, PNNL has developed a new 

open-source software program called Thermal 

Tracker to categorize and track birds and bats 

using a thermal camera and basic computer. With it, 

developers and regulators can track compliance with 

environmental monitoring requirements, better assess 

proposed locations for a wind farm, and evaluate how 

the potential presence of birds or bats nearby might 

affect its operations. Such tools aid in accelerating the 

safe adoption of renewable wind technologies while 

supporting wildlife along the way.

REFINING METAL 

POWDERS FOR 

MANUFACTURING

Ames Laboratory

Ames, Iowa

Ames Laboratory scientists have perfected a 

technique for creating consistently sized metal 

powders to use in manufacturing processes. 

The patented technique, known as gas atomization, 

involves the application of high-pressure gas 

molten metals, which causes metals to disintegrate 

into particles. This approach enables manufacturers 

to create customizable and consistently sized 

powders for all kinds of metals, including iron, 

nickel, tin, and titanium, while minimizing waste. 

The laboratory plans to scale up these capabilities 

to increase support for laboratory research and 

industry needs.

CAPTURING LIVE 

FUNCTIONS ON 

A TINY SCALE

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Imaging already tiny cellular components, such as 

cell membranes, at extremely small scales is difficult 

to do without interrupting their biological function. 

But researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory 

have figured out a way to do so. Their technique, 

which combines genetic and chemical labeling, enabled 

them to successfully complete the world’s first scan of 

a living cell membrane at nanoscale resolution. Without 

disrupting the membrane’s functions, researchers 

put together a detailed picture of a bacterial cell’s 

outer layers, uncovering new details about how such 

membranes actually function; this technique has 

the potential to revolutionize how researchers study 

nanoscale structures in living things.

Ames

Fermi

SLAC

LBNL

Thomas Jefferson

PNNL

Oak Ridge

Brookhaven

SPRING 2018 13
The site of the world-changing physics experiment  —

The University of Chicago’s Stagg Field in 1942.

Enrico Fermi (lower left) and a dozen or so team members who 

helped him achieve the world’s first controlled atomic chain reaction.

FEATURE

From Stagg Field to Supercomputers

On December 2, 1942, as World War II raged, 

a small group of scientists gathered beneath the 

football stands of the University of Chicago for 

a physics experiment that would very literally 

change the world.

BY LOUISE LERNER AND DAVE BUKEY

Illustrations by Rich Lo 

14 ARGONNENOW
SPRING 2018 15
In utmost secrecy, they had constructed a pile of 

uranium and graphite that would soon become the very 

first nuclear reactor. Led by Enrico Fermi, the scientists 

hoped to split uranium atoms and create the world’s first 

self-sustained, controlled chain reaction.

Seventy-six years later, the implications of that physics 

experiment still reverberate around the world. Besides 

shaping the outcome of the Second World War and the 

following half-century of international foreign policy, it 

has continued to shape the way the world views and 

uses energy, medicine, and scientific research.

CP-1, as the reactor was called, was not a particularly 

impressive engineering feat at first glance. It looked 

like a 20-foot-high mass of bricks; that’s where the 

name “Chicago Pile-1,” or CP-1, came from. But it was 

actually 6 tons of uranium metal, 50 tons of uranium 

oxide, and 400 tons of graphite bricks laid in an 

arrangement painstakingly and precisely calculated 

by some of the greatest scientific minds in the country. 

At 3:25 p.m., Fermi gave the final signal. The counters 

ticked, and the pile achieved criticality. The atomic 

age had begun.

As part of the nation’s Manhattan Project, Fermi’s team 

was expected to determine the likelihood that larger 

versions of CP-1 could breed plutonium to produce an 

atomic bomb. But greater plans for the discovery were 

already in place: the newly discovered atomic energy 

could be employed for peaceful uses, such as generating 

inexpensive electrical power.

That was the mission of Argonne — the lab that grew from 

Fermi’s experiment — when the federal government and 

the University of Chicago moved it west and designated 

it the first national laboratory in the United States. 

The Atomic Energy 

Commission funded 

scientific work at 

Argonne, Oak Ridge, 

Brookhaven, and other 

national laboratories 

which led directly to the 

rise of nuclear power 

in America. The history 

of nuclear energy is a 

story of the partnership 

between government 

and science at its best. Virtually every nuclear reactor 

operating around the world today is based on technology 

and designs developed by U.S. national laboratories. 

It’s not often that we discover an entirely new way 

to produce electricity. The prospect required an 

enormous amount of scientific and engineering work, 

from developing the underlying theoretical physics 

calculations to creating materials that could withstand 

the intense conditions inside a reactor.

The Atomic Energy Commission also established a 

new site, the National Reactor Testing Station, in 

southern Idaho, far from densely populated areas, 

and developed a new Argonne branch, Argonne National 

Laboratory-West (now the Materials & Fuels Complex 

at Idaho National Laboratory) to build prototype reactors 

to test emerging ideas. 

It was there, on December 20, 1951, just nine years after 

that wartime experiment in Chicago, that Argonne’s 

Experimental Breeder Reactor-I lit a string of four 

lightbulbs with the world’s first significant amount of 

electricity generated from nuclear power. The nuclear 

energy age was underway. 

FEATURE

In December 1951, Argonne’s 

Experimental Breeder Reactor-1 lit up 

four lightbulbs with the word’s first 

usable electricity from nuclear energy.

16 ARGONNENOW
Following preliminary design studies by Oak Ridge engineers, 

Argonne engineers designed and built a test reactor that 

Westinghouse and the U.S. Navy used to build the reactor for 

the first atomic-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, which was 

launched in 1954. The Nautilus could run for 50,000 miles without 

refueling, and it became the first submarine to travel underneath 

the polar ice cap; its success demonstrated that nuclear power 

was both safe and reliable. In 1955, another test reactor in Idaho 

powered the entire nearby town of Arco. The next step was to prove 

the value of nuclear energy to utilities by producing electricity on a 

larger scale. Planning began for an operating prototype at Argonne, 

the Experimental Boiling Water Reactor. Commonwealth Edison 

watched closely, collecting data from the tests; the utility was poised 

to roll the reactor out for business if the tests were successful. 

In December of 1956, this reactor produced its first electricity, 

ramping up to produce 100 megawatts shortly thereafter. Soon 

Commonwealth Edison was building an almost identical reactor in 

nearby Dresden, Illinois, which would become the first large-scale 

power plant built entirely by private industry. The era of commercialscale nuclear energy had truly begun. 

Over the following years, reactor research from the U.S. national 

laboratories became the basis for nearly every nuclear reactor 

around the world. “The dominant types of nuclear reactors that 

power the world all have their origins in Argonne research,” says 

Laural Briggs, a nuclear engineer at Argonne.

For example, Argonne designed reactors and built and tested the 

early prototypes. Oak Ridge developed principles of reactor control 

and protection systems still used today. 

“At 3:25 p.m., Fermi 

gave the final signal. The 

counters ticked, and the 

pile achieved criticality. 

 The atomic age had begun.”

Argonne National Laboratory 

commemorated the 75th 

anniversary of the first selfsustained, controlled nuclear chain 

reaction under the west stands of 

old Stagg Field by commissioning 

an animated video that portrayed 

the historic event.

The result was a modern take 

on this historic experiment. The 

2-minute, 30-second video faithfully 

renders such details as the exterior 

of Stagg Field, the rackets court 

where Enrico Fermi and his team 

built Chicago Pile-1, and even the 

Hutch Commons dining room at 

the University of Chicago where 

scientists had lunch the afternoon 

of their crowning achievement. 

The video was produced in 

consultation with Argonne 

scientists by Brick 101, a digital 

media company owned and 

operated by UChicago alumnus 

Dave Pickett.

CHICAGO PILE-1:

A BRICK HISTORY

CHECK OUT ARGONNE’S VIDEO AT

youtu.be/mTPiTJ2bKS0

SPRING 2018 17
Merzari uses Argonne’s Mira supercomputer to conduct modeling and 

simulation experiments that have the potential to make nuclear reactors 

safer, more efficient, and economically more competitive.

“We can simulate 

turbulence in great 

detail, thanks to the 

computing power of 

machines like the 

Mira supercomputer”

To harness Mira’s full processing power, Argonne 

researchers developed an award-winning programming 

code, known as Nek5000. The code allows Mira to run 

on all cylinders to handle “the largest-scale calculations 

for fluid flow in nuclear reactors,” says Merzari. 

The setup and the team’s expertise will “ultimately help 

design a new generation of more economically viable 

reactors,” he says.

Take, for example, small modular reactors, a new concept 

for a self-contained source of nuclear power about as 

wide as a hot tub (one-quarter the size of a standard 

pressurized water reactor). These reactors could run 

nonstop for seven to 20 years and generate a total of 

50 to 200 megawatts of power. They would be small 

and cost-effective enough to build in a factory and safely 

deliver to utility customers or scientific laboratories.

Researchers at Argonne and other U.S. national 

laboratories are refining the designs of these mini 

reactors by simulating via supercomputers how they 

might operate. This step can bolster safety, control costs, 

and promote efficiency because the researchers glean 

key insights before conducting real-world experiments. 

These benefits will multiply as Argonne and the other 

national laboratories move toward exascale, an era in 

which supercomputers will be 50 times faster than today. 

The chain reaction Fermi started that day in 1942 has 

gathered steam, rolled back scientific frontiers, and 

continues to improve our lives in surprising ways.

1 How Nuclear Power Helps Meet Global Energy Demand / The Role 

 of the IAEA, pub. IAEA Feb. 2017.

Today, more than 400 reactors provide about 11% of 

the world’s electrical power.1

 The national laboratories 

continue to research and develop advanced nuclear 

reactors and how to handle spent nuclear fuel. They also 

work closely with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 

to develop safety standards and practices, train industry 

professionals in the United States and abroad, and 

provide expertise on decommissioning older reactors. 

There were many other seismic shifts in the scientific 

landscape caused by the 1942 atomic chain reaction. 

The field of computer science, for example, broke 

through the surface as scientists built some of the first 

computers to model the physical phenomena — i.e., 

how the fuels were functioning and how the structural 

materials, which were under stress, were holding up — 

inside nuclear reactors.

Researchers can better solve thorny challenges, 

like those posed by nuclear physics, by breaking 

them down into smaller tasks. They tackle each 

with many processors that work together. This 

insight, known as parallel computing, lies at the 

heart of today’s supercomputers and the field of 

high-performance computing.

“You have a lot of parameters to juggle. But highperformance computing can be very helpful” in 

the right circumstances, says Argonne’s Briggs. 

That’s where Elia Merzari, principal nuclear engineer 

at Argonne, and his colleagues come in. Merzari is a 

member of an Argonne team that simulates how heat 

and fluids flow and create turbulence within nuclear 

reactors. To do this, the team must understand how 

heat and fluids behave under any simulated conditions — 

a field known as computational fluid dynamics.

“We can simulate turbulence in great detail, thanks 

to the computing power of machines like the Mira 

supercomputer” located at the Argonne Leadership 

Computing Facility, says Merzari. 

FEATURE

18 ARGONNENOW
The different colors in this picture 

represent different velocity intensities 

in a scaled-down facility representing 

a small nuclear reactor. The cylinders 

in the picture represent the fuel rods, 

which contain uranium. 

SPRING 2018 19
VALERIE TAYLOR

DIRECTOR OF MATHEMATICS 

AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

CRISTINA NEGRI

DIRECTOR OF 

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE

CYNTHIA JENKS

DIRECTOR OF CHEMICAL 

SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING

FEATURE

20 ARGONNENOW
KAWTAR HAFIDI

DIRECTOR OF 

PHYSICS

Four of Argonne’s newest division 

directors look to the future.

IN SYNC

SCIENTISTS

BY JO NAPOLITANO

When U.S. Department of Energy 

Secretary Rick Perry visited Argonne 

in January, Nuclear Engineer 

Heather Connaway asked if he 

had any advice for early career 

scientists. “Don’t be afraid to get 

outside of your comfort zone,” 

urged Secretary Perry. Feel free 

to collaborate, he advised.

That collaborative spirit thrives 

at Argonne as scientists and 

engineers — early career or not — 

in different areas team up to 

tackle scientific challenges 

and, ultimately, improve lives as 

well as our nation’s security and 

economy. That collaborative spirit 

also shines in four of Argonne’s 

newest division directors: Valerie 

Taylor (Mathematics and Computer 

Science), Cynthia Jenks (Chemical 

Sciences and Engineering), Cristina 

Negri (Environmental Science), and 

Kawtar Hafidi (Physics). 

When scientists work together, 

“we really make an impact 

because the frontier of science 

shifts towards complex systems 

and complex competencies,” says 

Negri. “We have the potential for 

new discoveries, new technology, 

new anything.”

U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry 

visited Argonne in January and urged scientists 

and engineers to step outside their comfort zone.

How will the next generation of 

scientists overcome challenges 

in physics and energy storage?

How will artificial 

intelligence transform 

scientific inquiry?

SPRING 2018 21
ArgonneNOW: Argonne strives to 

solve the world’s greatest scientific 

challenges. What does that mean 

for your division and how might 

technology play a role?

Cristina Negri: The Environmental 

Science Division is charged with 

many tasks, one of which involves 

climate science. As part of our work 

in this area, we are also developing 

the science to better understand 

how major weather events impact 

energy systems. For this, we need 

to create more detailed mapping, 

including finer-resolution modeling 

of dramatic precipitation. 

Our goal is to focus on specific 

parts of the country — to better 

understand weather patterns in an 

area as small as a single county or 

metro area. This is an enormous 

challenge, but the more information 

we have, the more we can act on. 

We are currently working with 

Argonne’s Energy and Global 

Security Directorate to develop 

the comprehensive inputs we 

need for this purpose.

Valerie Taylor: The Mathematics 

and Computer Science Division 

provides the math and computing 

methods and tools needed to solve 

some of our nation’s most critical 

scientific problems. Because the 

data generated from simulations 

and instruments have increased 

significantly, there is growing 

interest in using machine learning 

for science and engineering. 

Advances in machine learning, an 

application of artificial intelligence 

in which computers have the ability 

to learn without being programmed, 

and deep learning — an area within 

machine learning in which computers 

process data in such a way as to 

create patterns to aid in decisionmaking — will greatly benefit all 

areas of scientific study, such as 

understanding major weather events.

In an effort to satisfy the world’s 

computational needs and rise up to 

its greatest challenges, scientists are 

focusing on quantum computing 

and neuromorphic computing to 

meet specific needs. Quantum 

computing will use the power of 

atoms and molecules to perform 

specific memory and processing 

tasks far faster than traditional 

computers can. Neuromorphic 

computing gets its inspiration from 

the human brain, specifically its 

neural networks. Such computers 

would have the ability to infer, 

deduce, or make conclusions 

based on evidence and reasoning.

Cristina Negri: If we want to 

protect the environment or extract 

more resources from it, we must first 

Clockwise from upper left: The Mira supercomputer is a stepping stone toward the next great goal of supercomputing: exascale speed, where computers 

will calculate quintillions of floating point operations per second; scientists collaborate on next-generation battery research in the Electrochemical 

Discovery Laboratory; Cristina Negri collects poplar samples to measure the pollutants sucked from the earth; workers install the Electron Beam Ion 

Source at the Argonne Tandem Linac Accelerator System in the laboratory’s Physics Division.

FEATURE

These four renowned researchers 

and leaders eschew barriers and 

are changing the face of science 

across the laboratory. We recently 

sat down with them to discuss why 

collaboration is vital, the roles 

technology and young people play 

in shaping science, and the need 

for greater outreach to women 

and minorities.

22 ARGONNENOW
to form protons, neutrons, and other 

hadrons. The difficulty of answering 

these fundamental questions drives 

us to develop new tools to study 

these fascinating objects. While our 

mission is to better understand the 

nature of visible matter that makes 

up the universe, the techniques 

we develop to address these 

difficult questions have important 

applications outside of nuclear 

physics, giving us many opportunities 

to leave our comfort zone and think 

outside the nuclear physics box.

For example, our work building 

accelerators and understanding 

reactions in atomic nuclei led 

us to work with the Nuclear 

Engineering Division to develop 

improved production techniques 

for isotopes needed for medical 

imaging and treatment. Our interest 

in extremely rare nuclei led us to 

develop techniques for trapping 

and detecting single atoms of a 

specific isotope. After we perfected 

trapping for our nuclear physics

understand it. We also must gain a 

better understanding of all of the 

functions that, say, a forest or other 

ecosystem can provide, before we 

determine what to do with it. For 

example, what is the benefit of the 

clean water or air that it yields? 

Until now, this has been 

pretty expensive to monitor. 

New computing opportunities 

and capabilities will take 

environmental research to a 

much higher level. Whether 

we are trying to learn more about 

climate, weather, biogeochemistry, 

ecology, or population shifts, all 

of these areas will greatly benefit 

from improvements in the way we 

compute and handle data. 

Cynthia Jenks: Right now, a 

major focus is on energy storage. 

How do we store energy for the 

grid? We are also working to create 

more advanced batteries that would 

enable electric vehicles to make 

that next jump. 

On the more fundamental side, I’ve 

been talking a lot about the science 

of complexity. Major advances in 

molecular design, characterization 

tools, and computing now allow 

us to tackle incredibly complex 

problems. In chemistry, there is 

now a large knowledge base about 

how to take one chemical and 

convert it to another. But in industrial 

processes, there are so many more 

variables to consider. There are 

multiple components that need to 

be converted simultaneously and 

impurities in the system that 

can hinder these efforts. So how 

do you handle this? That’s what we 

need to know. 

Kawtar Hafidi: There are still 

many puzzles being explored in 

nuclear physics: from understanding 

highly unstable nuclei that are 

critical to nucleosynthesis in stars 

and supernovae to describing how 

matter is formed from quarks 

when we can never see quarks 

individually — only bound together 

The collaborative spirit drives 

not only scientific discoveries, 

but also breakthroughs in safety, 

says Cynthia Rock, the newest 

director of Argonne’s Nuclear 

and Waste Management Division. 

Rock, who excelled as a point 

guard in collegiate basketball, 

attributes her biggest Argonne 

achievements to teamwork. 

“Collaboration is a huge part 

of why my division has been 

so successful,” she says. “We 

regularly tap into Argonne’s 

scientific experts to help solve 

some very big problems.” 

One issue Rock faced here 

at Argonne was how to 

remove nuclear material from 

the laboratory and store it 

safely underground at the 

Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, in 

southeastern New Mexico. 

Back in 2009, Rock led a multimillion-dollar program that 

decommissioned six nuclear 

facilities and went a long way 

toward emptying four others — 

steps that ensured Argonne’s 

safety, reduced maintenance 

costs, and added 90 combined 

Argonne and subcontractor jobs. 

“It felt great to help Argonne 

and employ people who had 

been laid off” in the financial 

crisis, Rock says. Her team’s 

decommissioning work also 

led to several honors, including 

the U.S. Department of Energy 

Secretary’s Achievement award 

in 2012. Rock will also receive a 

humanitarian award this summer 

from Northwestern Oklahoma 

State University, her alma mater. 

(She already earned a spot in the 

school’s basketball hall of fame.) 

In her new role, Rock is focused 

on safety and modernizing 

Argonne’s facilities. “I welcome 

the challenge and enjoy the 

creativity and passion that’s 

needed to develop sustainable 

solutions,” says Rock.

SAFETY IN NUMBERS

CINDY ROCK

Director of Nuclear and 

Waste Management

SPRING 2018 23
measurements, we applied this 

highly sensitive and selective 

technique to trap and count other 

rare atoms. Just as carbon-14 allows 

us to date samples of organic matter, 

counting isotopes of krypton and 

argon allows us to date groundwater, 

glacial ice, and water from deep 

ocean currents, providing a powerful 

new tool for environmental studies 

and geosciences.

ArgonneNOW: What are the 

obstacles you might face moving 

forward with your research?

Cristina Negri: In terms of the 

environment, there is a lot of 

information to gather and analyze, 

but consensus is a different story. 

Agreeing on what should be done 

is an enormous challenge — but 

we have an even greater challenge 

in making people understand why 

this research is important. We must 

have an active and vibrant research 

program in this area. That’s the only 

way we will fully understand the 

impact of all of our actions on the 

world we live in.

Kawtar Hafidi: It’s tempting for 

scientists and researchers to drill 

down in one particular area of study. 

It’s very hard to let go and start 

something new. That’s human nature. 

We have to find the balance between 

allowing someone to become an 

expert in one particular area and 

pushing them to think long term, 

to stay relevant.

ArgonneNOW: Valerie, could 

you expand on Argonne’s 

efforts in the area of quantum 

information science?

Valerie Taylor: The area of quantum 

information science includes 

quantum computing, quantum 

communications, and quantum 

sensing. The laboratory has many 

efforts in quantum information 

science, as interdisciplinary efforts 

are critical to advances in this area. 

I will focus on our efforts in quantum 

computing in the Mathematics 

and Computer Science Division. 

Currently, quantum computing is in 

its early stages with the availability 

of quantum processors with a small 

number — about 50 — of quantum 

bits, or qubits. We are engaged 

in work in the area of quantum 

algorithms, leveraging our depth 

and breadth in optimization, as 

well as work with parallel methods 

to extend the work with quantum 

simulators. Further, we are actively 

searching for a strategic hire in 

quantum computing. 

There’s also the Chicago 

Quantum Exchange, launched 

by the University of Chicago, in 

collaboration with Argonne and 

Fermi National Laboratories, 

which aids academic, industrial, 

and governmental efforts in the 

science and engineering of 

quantum information. We are 

engaged in research with the 

Chicago Quantum Exchange in 

the area of quantum networks. 

It’s a very exciting time.

ArgonneNOW: What are some 

of Argonne’s top priorities?

Cynthia Jenks: Among the top 

priorities is Argonne’s Materials and 

Chemistry Initiative. The Chemical 

Sciences and Engineering Division 

will play a large role in advancing this 

initiative. As part of this, for example, 

we’ll focus even more on catalysis 

(the study of how different materials 

— catalysts — can help accelerate 

chemical reactions). We will look 

at methods for designing catalysts 

that, for example, perform reactions 

in confined spaces. We can design 

catalysts in which, say, one part of 

the catalyst produces a particular 

chemical, and then another area 

takes that chemical and turns it into 

something else.

Fundamental science needs that 

are the foundation of new energy 

storage technologies continue to 

be a key focus for Argonne. Along 

with applied aspects of energy 

storage, battery recycling is another 

important focus. So, we have all of 

these batteries in the world. How 

can they be recycled? There are a 

few divisions working together on 

advancing this area.

ArgonneNOW: How does 

collaboration across departments 

benefit the laboratory?

Cristina Negri: That’s the great 

thing about working at Argonne. 

I may be doing my environmental 

research here and Valerie can be 

doing her computer work two floors 

down from me. Both are worthy 

ventures, but when you put them 

FEATURE

“When scientists work together, we really 

make an impact because the frontier of 

science shifts towards complex systems 

and complex competencies.”

24 ARGONNENOW
together, you get a lot more than 

the sum of the two parts. That’s 

our edge here at Argonne.

It’s pretty remarkable to have all of 

these different competencies, areas 

of expertise, resources, and facilities 

all in one place. 

Valerie Taylor: Not only does 

the laboratory attract world-class 

researchers, it also provides stateof-the-art equipment and facilities 

to advance the science — and then 

there’s the focus on excellence. 

Argonne has extraordinarily high 

standards for staff. 

ArgonneNOW: Can you talk 

about Argonne’s efforts to reach 

out to young people, women, 

and minorities?

Cristina Negri: We all should strive 

to become role models to the young 

people who visit or work at the 

laboratory and we must remember 

that everything we do also provides 

an example to those looking to us for 

guidance and support. We have to be 

vigilant in creating and maintaining 

an atmosphere in which all people, 

including women and minorities, are 

encouraged to step up and meet the 

challenge of working at a place like 

Argonne. All of our scientists and 

researchers should feel emboldened, 

confident in meeting the laboratory’s 

goals and objectives.

Kawtar Hafidi: Young people are 

open to new ideas, which is great. 

I saw that this past year in the 

area of quantum information. The 

Department of Energy’s Office of 

Science encouraged many offices to 

start thinking about it, including the 

Office of Nuclear Physics. I asked 

around my division to gauge people’s 

interest and was met mostly with 

silence — except for two people 

who are among the younger folks 

on staff. Now we have a plan for 

how our department can add to this 

conversation. I was so glad to see 

their enthusiasm about building a 

bridge between these disciplines.

Valerie Taylor: We are constantly 

mindful of the need to help find 

and foster the next generation 

of scientists. We have a very 

welcoming environment 

for everyone, especially 

underrepresented groups like 

women and minorities. I recently 

attended a work-life balance 

workshop for women in high 

performance computing. I’m 

overjoyed at the notion that such a 

topic is being addressed — and that 

that panel was staffed by both men 

and women. That was great to see.

Clockwise from upper left: Division Directors Valerie Taylor, Cynthia Jenks, Kawtar Hafidi, and Cristina Negri discuss scientific priorities with their teams.

SPRING 2018 25
FEATURE

26 ARGONNENOW
An F-15 fighter jet flies only 60 times faster than 

the world’s fastest human, Usain Bolt, can run. 

But the upgrade of the U.S. Department of Energy’s 

Advanced Photon Source, or APS, at Argonne 

National Laboratory in Illinois will make it 

500 times brighter than it is today.

Ultra-bright X-ray beams expanding the boundaries of research.

BY STEVE KOPPES

Illustration by Robert Corwin

SPRING 2018 27
“A fighter jet is different from a human being, but 

that factor of 500 is such a big change, it’s going to 

revolutionize the types of science that we can do,” 

said Stephen Streiffer, Argonne Associate Laboratory 

Director for Photon Sciences and Director of the APS. 

“We’ll be able to look at the structure of materials and 

chemical systems in the interior of things — inside a 

turbine blade or a catalytic reactor — almost down to 

the atomic scale. We haven’t been able to do that 

before. Given that vast change, we can only dream 

about the science we’re going to do.”

The APS upgrade has been in the works since 2010. 

The upgrade will reveal a new machine that will allow 

its 5,500 annual users from university, industrial, and 

government laboratories to work at a higher spatial 

resolution, or to work faster with a brighter beam 

(a beam with more X-rays focused on a smaller spot) 

than they can now.

“Sometimes it’s called the ultimate X-ray microscope,” 

said Dennis Mills, Argonne Deputy Associate Laboratory 

Director for Photon Sciences. It will open opportunities 

for closer-up views of materials and, for experiments 

involving the evolution of phenomena over time, the 

collection of data at more rapidly occurring intervals.

In operation since 1996, APS’s electron storage ring, 

measuring two-thirds of a mile across, is large enough to 

encircle a major-league baseball stadium. Its beams are a 

billion times more powerful than the X-rays at a doctor’s 

office. The 7 giga-electron-volt (GeV) facility is one of the 

world’s highest-energy synchrotron radiation sources.

“An important aspect of what we do with the APS isn’t 

big science. It’s small science at a very large scale,” 

said Streiffer. Fifty to 60 experiments get underway 

and generate data every day.

Scientists from across the country and around the world 

use the powerful, versatile, invisible light of the APS 

to study the arrangements of molecules and atoms, 

probe the interfaces where materials meet, determine 

the interdependent form and function of biological 

proteins, and watch nanoscale chemical processes. They 

need these capabilities to develop better ways to use 

energy, sustain the nation’s technological and economic 

competitiveness, and push back the ravages of disease.

A NOBEL HISTORY

Research at the APS has contributed to two Nobel Prizes 

in chemistry, both pertaining to protein crystallography, a 

method used to investigate the features of proteins. 

The 2009 Nobel Prize in chemistry went to Venkatraman 

Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yonath for 

their study of the structure and function of the ribosome. 

All three laureates completed key aspects of their work 

at the APS. Ribosomes work as protein factories in all 

organisms, from humans to bacteria. The improved 

knowledge about ribosomes, especially in bacteria, Counter clockwise from top: Physicists and engineers build and test new APS 

components, a closeup of the magnets that will drive the upgraded APS beams, 

a technician installs other magnets that will propel the beams.

FEATURE

28 ARGONNENOW
opened a new avenue of medical research as scientists 

worked to identify antibiotics that can interfere with 

bacterial protein synthesis.

In 2012, Brian Kobilka shared the Nobel Prize in 

chemistry for work he had done on G-protein-coupled 

receptors, or GPCRs, a large family of proteins that play 

a key role in how cells interact with their environments. 

In his research, Kobilka passed extremely bright X-rays 

through crystallized proteins. By watching how the X-rays 

scattered, he revealed the three-dimensional structure 

of the proteins in great detail.

Many of today’s pharmaceuticals target GCPRs. Kobilka 

performed a study at APS that led to the first discovery 

of the structure of a human GPCR. Kobilka and other 

scientists bring their protein crystals to the APS with 

the goal of defining their structures. 

“That can then help us understand the function of the 

molecule, which is what the biologists really want to 

know,” Mills said. Getting the proteins to crystallize is 

often difficult, sometimes resulting in rather small protein 

crystals. But the APS offers tightly focused beams. “You 

can use a small crystal at the APS and still get the data 

that you just couldn’t get at most other places.”

BEND, REFOCUS, REPEAT

The lattice of bending magnets currently used at the 

APS causes the electron beam to spread horizontally. 

But after the APS upgrade, a more advanced magnetic 

lattice, called the multi-bend achromat, will gently bend 

the beam, refocus it, and bend it more — over and over 

again until the horizontal beam’s size and shape become 

much smaller than what the facility currently produces.

“Right now, the APS operates with a beam that very 

much looks like a flat pancake,” Streiffer said. “It’s 

large in the horizontal dimension and rather small in 

the vertical dimension.” 

In its typical operational mode, the APS beam measures 

approximately 15 microns in diameter vertically (much 

less than the diameter of a human hair) and 207 microns 

horizontally. But after the upgrade, the beam will measure 

approximately 10 microns in diameter vertically and 

20 microns horizontally.

“By installing this more complicated magnetic lattice —

the multi-bend achromat, which achieves this bend, 

refocus, bend, refocus, bend, refocus — you make 

the horizontal dimension of the beam similar to the 

vertical dimension, which improves its properties 

very substantially,” Streiffer said.

The theory behind multi-bend achromats is well 

established, but the challenge for photon scientists 

is making them work in practice. Streiffer compared 

the current APS magnetic lattice to a sedan and 

the proposed upgrade to a sports car. The sedan is 

affordable and reliable; the sports car offers higher 

performance, but also is more temperamental.

“An important aspect 

of what we do with the 

APS isn’t big science. 

It’s small science at 

a very large scale.”

SPRING 2018 29
Each new generation of light source has involved something 

of a leap into the unknown. The same applies to multi-bend 

achromats, a fourth-generation synchrotron radiation technology.

“It’s only been in the last five or 10 years that computational 

techniques for simulating accelerators have evolved to where 

people are becoming convinced they can actually make this 

high-performance lattice work,” Streiffer said.

The APS upgrade involves a technique called swap-out injection 

to introduce beams into a storage ring. Swap-out is the next 

outgrowth of the current technology’s top-up injection technique. 

In top-up mode, the weakest of the decaying electron bunches 

receive an added charge as they circulate, while all existing 

bunches stay in place.

“That works in third-generation machines. In fourth-generation 

machines, where you’re really pushing the performance, that doesn’t 

work so well,” said Michael Borland, Associate Director of Argonne’s 

Accelerator Systems Division and an Argonne Distinguished Fellow. 

“You get rid of the bunch that’s there and you inject a new one. You 

swap in a full-current bunch for a weakened one.”

FEWER DONUTS AND SANDWICHES

The APS upgrade will require scientists to remove the current 

machine, install the new one, and re-open the facility to users, 

all within a year. 

“To achieve this goal, we are simulating the process of 

commissioning the new machine,” Borland said.

Vadim Sajaev, group leader in accelerator operations and 

physics at the APS, has developed a complex simulation code 

that will evaluate 100 or more possible configurations of the 

machine and consider potential operational differences that could 

emerge between its intended design and its actual construction. 

Using this simulation, Borland said, “We can make fairly confident 

statistical predictions about the performance of the machine 

after we’ve commissioned it. We also plan to apply this software 

to our existing machine.” In that exercise, they will pretend to 

commission the existing machine as a way to further test and 

develop the software.

“Usually commissioning is a bunch of physicists in a control room 

with donuts and sandwiches for weeks getting the machine to work,” 

Borland said. “We need to use more sophisticated technology to 

help us do that more quickly.”

APS physicists have also been optimizing their magnet 

configurations through advanced computer simulations that 

emulate biological evolution. They were among the first to apply 

the technique to accelerator design on a large scale. In 2010, 

Borland received 36 million processor hours from the U.S. 

Department of Energy to conduct simulations based on the 

technique at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, which 

houses one of the world’s fastest supercomputers.

“We continue to use Argonne facilities for that sort of calculation,” 

said Borland.

The calculations were performed using something called a multiobjective genetic algorithm, which starts with a given configuration 

of magnets in a possible accelerator. The simulations then 

FEATURE

Robert O. Hettel arrived at Argonne this 

past fall to direct the upgrade of the 

laboratory’s Advanced Photon Source, 

known to its users as the APS. 

Hettel, a veteran accelerator designer 

and expert on storage-ring light sources, 

comes to Argonne from SLAC National 

Accelerator Laboratory. 

In his new role as director, Hettel will 

oversee the planning, construction, and 

implementation of the upgrade. This 

project will create the world’s ultimate 

three-dimensional microscope and enable 

researchers to view and manipulate matter 

at the atomic level, to solve complex science 

problems across multiple disciplines.

“Robert has a unique background that 

makes him the ideal person to lead the 

APS upgrade during its next critical 

phase,” says Paul Kearns, Argonne’s 

Laboratory Director. “He has balanced an 

impressive list of scientific and engineering 

achievements with a wonderfully nuanced 

eye for the bigger picture. We are looking 

forward to his leadership and perspective 

on this major project.”

Hettel was attracted to the APS to 

work on a project that, once finished, 

will be at the forefront of scientific 

discoveries and engineering advances 

for the next generation.

“The APS is already a major force in the 

world of light sources, and the APS upgrade 

will truly lead the world in storage-ring light 

source performance,” Hettel says. “I am 

looking forward to working with Argonne 

and the APS to build this fantastic machine.”

APS UPGRADE PROJECT 

GETS NEW LEADER

ROBERT O. HETTEL

Director of the Advanced Photon Source 

Upgrade Project

30 ARGONNENOW
determine how easy it will be to inject an electron beam 

into the accelerator, and how long the beam will last 

once it arrives.

“Then you make basically random tweaks to different 

parameters of the magnets and re-evaluate, to ask 

‘How good is that configuration?’” Borland said.

After simulating an entire generation of a hundred or 

so randomizations from the starting point, the algorithm 

will find the ones that perform the best.

“Then you run the simulation on those so-called 

‘rank one’ configurations. Basically, you take different 

properties from those configurations and you mix 

them together using random numbers. Then you 

re-evaluate all those ‘children’ of the previous 

generation and repeat. Eventually, the algorithm can 

find solutions that you never would have thought of 

yourself and that you couldn’t really get from any 

more deterministic technique,” Borland said.

The APS team has used this method both to improve 

the existing accelerator and to design new ones. 

“It sometimes finds things that don’t seem right. And then 

you look in more detail and understand it did something 

really clever that you didn’t consider.”

FINE TUNING A STICKY NOTE 

Other simulation codes also help Argonne scientists 

understand and tune the APS electron beam’s properties. 

The continuously evolving ELEGANT code, which Borland 

and collaborators developed, has become a mainstay 

of accelerator design and simulation at APS and other 

light sources worldwide. These include the world’s first 

free-electron laser, the Department of Energy’s 

Linac Coherent Light Source at SLAC National 

Accelerator Laboratory.

“The basic equations that govern the electron beams are 

pretty simple. You can probably write them on a sticky 

note,” Borland said. Nevertheless, the configurations to 

create high-quality electron beams are quite complicated.

“You need simulation codes to help improve the electron 

beam’s quality,” Borland said. The outcome: APS beams 

that shine more brightly than ever.

The APS upgrade is funded by the 

U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

Clockwise from top left: Argonne technician Susan Bettenhausen builds a magnet designed to push the APS into new territory, engineer Matthew Kasa 

works on equipment for the APS upgrade, engineer Chuck Doose ensures new magnets slated for the APS upgrade are calibrated correctly. 

“Each new 

generation of light 

source has involved 

something of a leap 

into the unknown.”

SPRING 2018 31
THE SECRET LIVES OF SCIENTISTS

ANDREW

ORR When Argonne environmental 

analyst Andrew Orr wants to get 

away from it all, he thinks BIG.

BY JO NAPOLITANO

ARTICLE

32 ARGONNENOW
What was the most memorable 

part of the trip?

AO: When we first arrived on land in 

Antarctic waters, we walked through a 

penguin colony. I was taking hundreds 

of pictures because it was my first time 

seeing penguins up close. I have loved 

them my entire life, so this was a dream 

come true. I know their main predator 

down there is the leopard seal, and I 

saw one actually eat a penguin. I was 

maybe 200 feet away. 

Anything else stand out? 

AO: I was at the helm late one night 

somewhere in the Scotia Sea between 

South Georgia and the Antarctic peninsula. 

I looked up and saw the Southern Cross, 

which is a recognizable constellation. I 

then spotted what was probably a large 

satellite in low orbit. It was incredible to 

be standing on a 100-year-old tall ship 

sailing in Antarctic waters and looking at 

a constellation as a manmade spacecraft 

passed by. 

You were sailing in some uniquely 

remote areas. How dark was it?

AO: There is no light other than the 

moon and stars. We saw only two other 

boats the whole trip. Several times I 

saw planets, really bright planets that 

would reflect off the sea.

Where there any scary moments?

AO: Yes, definitely. We were sailing 

in the Drake Passage — between the 

Antarctic Peninsula and South America — 

when an intense storm arose with 27-foot 

high waves and winds stronger than 

45 miles an hour. The Passage is one of 

the most dangerous waterways in the 

world, known for almost constant extreme 

weather. The crew did not let anyone on 

deck because we might fall overboard. 

I was worried, but the ship handed it well. 

Where will you go next?

AO: I would love to go to Patagonia at 

the southern end of South America. I 

am also interested in going north to the 

Arctic Circle, to the Svalbard set of islands 

midway between continental Norway and 

the North Pole. I’m hoping there is a tall 

ship that does that route at some point. 

In February 2015, Andrew took a 

52-day trip partway around the world, 

sailing 6,000 miles on a 100-year-old 

tall ship. The vessel, which took off 

from Argentina, went on to Antarctica 

and then to Cape Town, South Africa, 

by way of South Georgia Island and 

Tristan da Cunha, the most remote 

inhabited archipelago in the world.

What do you do at Argonne?

AO: I analyze geographic and spatial 

data and make maps for environmental 

impact statements and atmospheric 

and climate modeling. When I first arrived 

at Argonne, I helped build a mapping 

tool that would allow individual states to 

determine the best locations in their state 

for clean energy technologies such as 

wind, solar, and geothermal energy.

What is your hobby?

AO: Travel and photography. I took 

about 7,000 still shots aboard the ship 

and about 1,800 video clips. 

How did you first hear about this trip?

AO: A few years ago, a former coworker 

took a trip on the same ship, Europa. 

It sails around the world throughout the 

year. Every winter — for us in the 

Northern Hemisphere — the ship sails 

to the Southern Hemisphere. My friend 

spent 22 days on the ship, which was not 

nearly long enough for her. To improve 

upon that, I chose the 52-day trip. 

Did you have much experience 

at sea?

AO: I never had any sailing training. 

At first, the crew breaks the group into 

three teams. Each team works a 4-hour 

shift and then has 8 hours off. When you 

are on watch, you get to steer the ship. 

You get to work the sails, go up in the 

rigging, go up to the top of the mast. 

There are actually two mandatory 

positions: watch and lookout. They 

always have two people on lookout 

while the ship is sailing. 

Did your prior knowledge of 

mapping come in handy? 

AO: Yes, but only a bit. The crew taught 

us celestial navigation with a sextant. It 

is tough because it is cloudy almost all 

of the time so you never have a good 

view of the sky. 

To see more of Andrew’s photos, visit 

www.aretephotograph.com. 

SPRING2018 33
ARTICLE

DISASTER

RESILIENCE

SEVEN THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT...

Storms that cause flooding often catch us by 

surprise. Fortunately, Argonne researchers 

are using high-performance computers to 

better predict which areas are likely to flood. 

These seven things explain the challenges and 

payoffs of one of Argonne’s new approaches to 

disaster resilience.

This research was funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

34 ARGONNENOW
BUT ACCURATELY 

PREDICTING FLOODS, 

ESPECIALLY IN URBAN 

AREAS, IS EXCEEDINGLY 

DIFFICULT 

This is because rainfall patterns 

can vary across small areas and 

can often escape detection by 

patchy rain gauge networks. 

Predictions must also account 

for unique landscape features 

that could affect flooding, as 

well as how fast the rain is 

falling. (For example, rain that 

falls in 6 hours could have very 

different flood effects than the 

same amount of rain spread out 

over 24 hours.)

A NEW TOOL DEVELOPED 

AT ARGONNE CAN PREDICT 

FLOODS MORE ACCURATELY 

THAN EVER BEFORE

It offers a new way to analyze 

weather data, taking advantage 

of the laboratory’s unique, 

high-performance computing 

resources and overcoming 

important limitations of previous 

approaches. It is the most 

comprehensive flood-predicting 

tool for urban areas to date. 

FLOODS ARE ONE OF THE 

MOST COMMON — AND 

DESTRUCTIVE — NATURAL 

HAZARDS IN THE WORLD

According to the World Economic 

Forum, one recent study found 

that in a 20-year period from 

1995 to 2015, flooding accounted 

for 43 percent of all recorded 

global natural disasters — 

making it the most common 

by far. (Storms were second, 

at 28 percent, and earthquakes 

third at 8 percent.)

IT’S THE EQUIVALENT OF 

DEPLOYING MILLIONS 

OF RAIN GAUGES 

THROUGHOUT AN AREA

The tool takes data from 

Doppler radar sites and 

analyzes it with a powerful 

collection of mathematical 

equations. Then it combines 

the data with a detailed 

model that incorporates 

geographic features and 

urban buildings. 

USING THEIR NEW MODEL, 

RESEARCHERS CAN NOW 

PREDICT FLOODING WITHIN 

FEET, NOT MILES

That’s important, because 

storms that produce the highest 

rainfalls tend to be in small areas; 

the intensity of the rain can vary 

considerably between areas less 

than 100 feet apart. Studying past 

storms shows that predicted flood 

depths from a single rain gauge 

can be off by up to a foot and a 

half compared to radar-based 

rainfall data. 

ARGONNE SCIENTISTS ARE 

ACTING LOCALLY, AND 

THINKING GLOBALLY

Argonne initially developed 

and deployed this tool as part 

of a Department of Homeland 

Security resilience program in 

Portland, Maine. Despite the 

regional focus at the beginning, 

the collaborative work and the 

information it yielded could 

reach far beyond Maine, with 

resulting benefits for science 

and society.

ACCURATELY PREDICTING 

FLOODS WOULD REDUCE THEIR 

HUMAN AND ECONOMIC TOLL

By understanding how extreme 

storms will affect areas, city planners, 

local communities, and business 

coalitions can make better decisions 

about how to improve storm drainage 

and flood preparedness. Other 

benefits could include using land 

more strategically and decreasing 

damage with various floodreducing methods — potentially 

saving countless lives, homes, 

and businesses.

SPRING 2018 35
ARGONNE 

EFFORTS 

ACCELERATE 

3-D PRINTING 

JOURNEY

With the development of additive manufacturing— 

often referred to as 3-D printing — engineers 

are limited only by their imagination and the 

quality of the part that they can produce. 

ARGONNE IN THE MARKETPLACE

ARTICLE

BY DAVE BUKEY

36 ARGONNENOW
By heating plastic or metal powders with lasers, 

scientists have already built cars, pedestrian 

bridges and even artificial jawbones layer by layer. 

This technology has the potential to transform 

manufacturing as engineers use titanium and other 

metal alloys to tap raw materials more efficiently, 

which in turn will reduce product costs and weight 

and shorten supply chains.

Yet metal additive manufacturing faces roadblocks. 

Printed materials often contain structural defects and 

vary from their designs, forcing engineers to repair their 

finished pieces or start over from scratch. And not all 

physics behind the process are well understood. Much 

of the research in this area involves trial and error — 

a costly and time-consuming way to innovate.

To address these problems, scientists from the 

U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National 

Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University, and Missouri 

University of Science and Technology are investigating 

the entire 3-D printing process, including the material 

properties of the metal powders and how the laser 

“melts” and shapes those powders into the desired 

components, to discover both how defects form 

and methods to avoid them.

For the first time, scientists recently peered inside 

materials formed by 3-D printing in real time as the 

laser molded the metal powders into shapes. As the 

laser “prints” metal components, Argonne physicist 

Tao Sun and his collaborators have a front-row seat to 

its inner workings via the intense synchrotron X-rays at 

the Advanced Photon Source, a DOE Office of Science 

User Facility located at Argonne.

“The laser-metal interaction happens very quickly,” 

said Sun. “Fortunately, we captured the process at 

50,000 frames a second using the high-speed X-ray 

instrument at the Advanced Photon Source. We can 

study the resulting movie frame by frame to examine 

how the material’s microstructure, especially defects 

and pores, form.”

The team showed they can observe and quantify many 

metal 3-D printing characteristics — including melt pool 

size/shape, powder ejection, solidification, porosity 

formation, and phase transformations.

Sun will share his conclusions with partners in academia 

and other national laboratories who are building models 

to reliably predict the characteristics of the printed 

materials. These models also predict the dynamics of 

the process — such as how the laser melts the powder, 

when the powder changes into gases and liquids, 

and so on.

Meanwhile, Aaron Greco, a principal materials scientist 

at Argonne and project co-leader for Argonne’s 

additive manufacturing effort, enhances the models 

from a different angle. “After printing, we examine the 

product’s resulting microstructure and defects,” said 

Greco. “We use a variety of techniques including optical 

and electron microscopy and even tomography at the 

Advanced Photon Source, to validate the models.”

The result is a virtuous loop in which the experimental 

data feeds into models of additive manufacturing, and 

then the improved models are tested by more elaborate 

and insightful experiments. This interplay between 

modelers and experimentalists is essential to clearly 

and accurately understanding the underlying materials 

physics required to make 3-D printing truly reliable.

Although this loop is vital to their fundamental 

understanding of additive manufacturing, the 

researchers’ ambitions extend further.

“Our goal is to explore new possibilities,” said Greco. 

“Industries are currently limited to a certain set of metal 

alloys. But what about new ones? If you understand the 

physical properties related to how to print new alloys, 

you can adopt these into the process and speed up the 

reliability of printing.”

Industries are also limited by the extremely detailed 

models currently required to define the printing process 

for complex parts. By reducing these models to just the 

handful of elements that affect quality and reliability, 

the team hopes to make the models faster and more 

suitable for industry. 

Ultimately, Argonne’s efforts will achieve the best 

of both worlds: Scientists will uncover the dynamic 

mysteries of metal additive manufacturing, while 

industries will thrive with blueprints to rapidly print 

cost-effective and reliable products.

“Our work will not only help industries improve efficiency 

and performance, but also increase the likelihood 

that metal additive manufacturing will be more widely 

adopted in other applications,” Greco said.

Sun’s research was reported in the Scientific Reports

article, “Real-time monitoring of laser powder bed fusion 

process using high-speed X-ray imaging and diffraction.” 

The experiments were performed at the Advanced 

Photon Source’s 32-ID-B beamline.

This research was supported by Argonne National Laboratory; 

the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science, National 

Nuclear Security Agency, and Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy; the Grumman Corp.; and the University of 

Missouri Research Board.

SPRING 2018 37
Argonne partnered with the University 

of Chicago in the summer of 2017 

to sponsor “All About Energy,” a 

six-week program that gives Chicago 

public high school students an 

up-close look at careers in science, 

technology, engineering, and 

mathematics (STEM) and a chance to 

learn what it means to be a scientist. 

Now in its second year, the program 

ran from July 5 through August 15.

According to Shaz Rasul, director of 

community programs at the University 

of Chicago, “All About Energy” has 

been a hit with students, who 

participated under the auspices of 

After School Matters, a Chicago notfor-profit that provides opportunities 

to more than 15,000 teens each year.

Founded in 2000, After School 

Matters creates public–private 

partnerships to provide enrichment 

opportunities for students in 

Chicago’s public high schools, 

where resources are scarce and 

such opportunities are limited.

“All About Energy” drew more than 

100 applicants, Rasul said, with the 

Neighborhood Schools Program, 

one of the university’s community 

outreach programs, interviewing 

more than 60 candidates for the 

30 spots available.

“We were excited to partner with 

the University of Chicago on this 

program,” added Meridith Bruozas, 

Argonne’s manager of Educational 

Programs and Outreach. “We built the 

curriculum here and designed it after 

a recent Argonne OutLoud event that 

dealt with building an energy plan.”

Students were organized into 

six five-member teams, with each 

team assigned a different Chicago 

neighborhood for study. One of their 

first tasks was to learn about the City 

of Chicago’s sustainability plan, which 

calls for reducing carbon dioxide 

emissions 20 percent by 2020. 

Students met with the city’s chief 

sustainability officer, who described 

the plan and answered questions.

Students spent four and a half weeks 

studying different kinds of alternative 

energy, learning the pros and cons 

of each and how they worked.

The program also included field 

trips. Students made biofuel at 

Argonne and visited Chicago’s famed 

Museum of Science and Industry, 

where they met with the museum’s 

sustainability officer. They also 

attended Argonne’s Learning on the 

Lawn event, where they joined poster 

presentations by the laboratory’s 

undergraduate interns.

Teams spent the last week and a 

half of their program formulating 

an energy plan for their assigned 

neighborhood, implementing 

alternative energy practices with 

the goal of reducing greenhouse 

gas emissions by 20 percent. The 

program culminated in an August 

15 poster session in which students 

described their energy plans. Guests 

included officials from the City of 

Chicago; members of Argonne, the 

University of Chicago, and After 

School Matters; and students’ families.

“This program provides an opportunity 

for students to try on the identity of 

a scientist,” Bruozas said. “There are 

few, if any, programs like this.”

Argonne’s Educational Programs 

Department aims to enrich STEM 

education through programs that 

advance the laboratory’s strategic 

energy, environment, and security 

initiatives. Argonne also seeks to 

develop new educational programs 

based on transforming discoveries 

that further the Department of 

Energy’s mission of workforce 

development and science literacy.

“It was really an opportunity like 

no other,” said Daniel Arenas, 

an Argonne summer intern who 

participated in the 2016 STEM 

program. “The STEM program last 

year enabled me to network with 

people who helped me attain a 

summer internship this year. I worked 

with chemists and engineers at a 

level I never thought possible as a 

high-school graduate. Everyone at 

Argonne, the University of Chicago 

and After School Matters shows great 

interest in every single participant 

and genuinely wants the best for us.”

BY KATHRYN E. JANDESKA

EDUCATION

AFTER-SCHOOL 

 ENERGY RUSH

How can high school students help develop 

plans to clean the air in major U.S. cities? 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne 

National Laboratory is finding out.

ARTICLE

38 ARGONNENOW
Argonne and the University of Chicago partnered to help these Chicago high school students study different kinds of alternative energy; Middle: Chicago high 

school students made biofuel at Argonne as part of a summer partnership between the laboratory and the University of Chicago.

“This program provides an opportunity for 

 students to try on the identity of a scientist. 

 There are few, if any, programs like this.”

SPRING 2018 39
CROWDSOURCE

“The biggest surprise nature handed me 

is the discovery that microbes in your gut 

could influence brain development and 

behavior. That was astounding to me. 

When my son was diagnosed with autism, 

I wanted to figure out a potential solution 

to his problem. Instead, I uncovered a 

whole research field to which we are now 

actively contributing. Microbial ‘dysbiosis’ 

(imbalance) seems to play a role in so many 

facets of our health. The fact that it could be 

influencing disorders such as depression, 

anxiety, and even cognition fascinates me. 

I am desperate to uncover this link and 

figure out how to use it to help people.”

MICROBIAL ECOLOGY

“The biggest surprise to me has been the 

creative, explosive growth of lasers and 

their applications in science and society. 

As a graduate student working with 

homemade tunable infrared lasers, 

it was hard to imagine that lasers would 

one day be responsible for so many things: 

examining the difference between matter 

and antimatter, quantum key distribution 

(a new approach to cryptography) to 

satellites, telecommunications, grocery 

checkout, 3-D manufacturing, and even 

eye surgery.

Argonne has expanded the frontiers of 

novel laser applications with the invention 

of atom-trap trace analysis, a method of 

counting individual rare atoms in a sea of 

a trillion isotopic sisters to calculate the 

age of groundwater.

These applications use long-wavelength 

lasers, but the quest for an X-ray laser 

was always a dream for scientists. Finally, 

in 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy 

successfully developed the first hard X-ray 

free-electron laser at the SLAC National 

Accelerator Laboratory — and Argonne 

contributed to this feat by demonstrating 

the single-pass saturation mechanism 

and building the undulator.”

PHYSICS

WHAT IS THE

BIGGEST 

 SURPRISE

NATURE HAS HANDED YOU?

Microbial Ecologist

JACK GILBERT

Atomic and 

Molecular Physicist 

LINDA YOUNG

ARTICLE

40 ARGONNENOW
“The grand challenge at the core of 

manufacturing at Argonne is the holy 

grail of manufacturing science at large: 

How do we develop the science behind 

the art of making many copies of the 

same thing, over and over, with minimal 

defects, and at a very frugal energy 

budget in the shortest time possible? 

As we learn more about how nature 

synthesizes or manufactures inorganic, 

organic, and composite materials, we 

cannot help but be amazed by nature’s 

sophisticated machinery. Nature 

manages to maintain a tremendous 

degree of control over the mesoscale 

architecture of materials and chemicals. 

In manufacturing science, we are beginning 

to build the science and tools needed to 

understand and control the manufacturing 

genome — nature’s blueprint — and move 

beyond intuition-driven engineering 

to predictive control of synthesis and 

assembly at the molecular level.”

MANUFACTURING SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

“The biggest recent happy surprise is 

how well machine learning is working on 

problems in cancer. Predicting cancer drug 

response now seems to be an achievable 

goal in the near term. Computers are 

already reliably more accurate and more 

consistent than humans in most areas 

of cancer diagnosis. This did not require 

fundamental breakthroughs specific to 

cancer. Instead, it required the careful 

organization of data from thousands of 

patients and just enough computing power. 

Of course, there has been recent progress 

in machine learning across the board. This 

seems to be the effect of good algorithms, 

large amounts of data, and terafloplevel computing (performing trillions of 

operations per second). The future is very 

bright for applying machine learning to 

many problems in medicine, science, and 

engineering. We dreamed about this 

30 years ago, but now it seems that it 

will happen in our lifetime.”

COMPUTING, ENVIRONMENT AND LIFE SCIENCES

Argonne scientists from different disciplines 

provide a perspective on a complex question.

Associate Laboratory 

Director for Computing, 

Environment and 

Life Sciences 

RICK STEVENS

Director of 

Manufacturing Science 

and Engineering 

SANTANU CHAUDHURI

SPRING 2018 41
The made-up site, alleged to be run by the U.S. Department 

of Energy, opened a portal to another dimension, one that 

might be connected to the disappearance of a 12-year-old 

boy — and the discovery of a young girl with otherworldly 

powers. The first of the show’s two seasons focused on the 

boy’s recovery while the second followed his family and 

friends as they grappled with all that had happened.

The made-up laboratory at the heart of the story, set deep 

inside a pitch-dark forest, is said to resemble Argonne — 

so much so that the real U.S. Department of Energy 

released a tongue-in-cheek comparison between the 

two. The missive came out this past summer. 

“We don’t mess with monsters,” the announcement said. 

“But the Energy Department is in the business of detecting 

invisible dangers.”

Marius Stan, interim director of the Systems Science Center 

in the Global Security Sciences Division, has long been 

delighted by the intersection of the real and the imagined. 

Stan is not only an acclaimed computational physicist and 

chemist but also won a recurring role in the hit AMC series 

“Breaking Bad.” The Emmy-winning crime drama ran for five 

years, ending in 2013. 

The opening scene of the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things” takes 

place inside the fictional Hawkins National Laboratory, which is 

shown to conduct clandestine work related to the supernatural.

NOT A

SCIENCE BEHIND THE FICTION

BY JO NAPOLITANO

Argonne’s Marius Stan (left) and Donghyeon Lee (right) discuss 

ways to collaborate.

DOPPELGÄNGER

ARTICLE

42 ARGONNENOW
Stan said that while the main laboratory building 

depicted in “Stranger Things” might be eerily 

reminiscent of some of Argonne’s older edifices  — 

or even of the Department of Energy building in 

Washington, D.C. — the similarities are only superficial.

“The type of work we do helps society,” Stan said. “We 

don’t torture people, though some of my postdocs 

might say I torture them with physics and math.”

Indeed, he said, the national laboratories constantly 

strive to solve some of the great problems of our 

age, particularly in the area of energy production, 

energy storage, and energy transportation. The U.S. 

Department of Energy also has a strong focus on high 

performance computing. 

Argonne, its people, and its world-class facilities are 

key to this mission, he said. 

“The laboratory is home to some extraordinary facilities, 

including the Advanced Photon Source, a tremendous 

X-ray machine that we use to look inside materials, to 

learn how they are made — and to design better ones,” 

Stan said. “We also do significant work in support of 

national security.”

The real laboratory, set in the Argonne Forest, was 

established in 1946 following the first sustained nuclear 

reaction conducted at the University of Chicago as part 

of the Manhattan Project. It has had 14 directors since 

then: Paul K. Kearns was appointed in November 2017 

to lead Argonne as it upgrades the Advanced Photon 

Source, enters the era of exascale computing, explores 

the universe, and helps transform manufacturing and 

energy storage. 

Stan said he understands why the national laboratories 

have attracted the attention of the show’s creators. 

The public does not entirely understand the work that 

goes on at the sites and that makes the labs appear 

to be mysterious, he said. In an effort to help change 

this, Stan is giving a series of presentations on science, 

art, and society in the Chicago area. At these events, 

he talks at length about the tremendous benefits 

of scientific research and engineering innovation, 

particularly in the area of artificial intelligence. 

“Many people don’t know about the research we do,” 

he said. “We must always work to connect with the 

public to demonstrate the laboratory’s value and 

positive impact on society.”

As for “Stranger Things,” Stan would like to thank the 

show’s creators for shining a light on the national labs. 

“It’s a good thing in itself,” he said. “It brings attention. 

Some of the people who watch the show might look up 

national laboratories. They won’t find the Hawkins lab, 

but they might stumble upon Argonne.”

Argonne’s Marius Stan and Young Soo Park inspect a Baxter robot. Both researchers are examining how robotics and artificial intelligence can help deactivate 

and decommission nuclear power plants.

SPRING 2018 43
How do computers learn 

for themselves? 

PB: They don’t, actually. When it 

comes to machine learning, the 

approach that is currently gaining 

the most attention is “supervised 

learning,” in which we (humans) have 

to teach them (computers). It’s similar 

to how we learn from our parents, 

teachers, and mentors. We have 

developed algorithms for this purpose 

based on the way humans process 

information. For example, we can 

now teach machines the association 

between the images and labels 

based in part on how we ourselves 

have come to understand the world 

around us.

How efficient or accurate 

is machine learning?

PB: That all depends on the data that 

we provide. We need good training 

data from the start. Machine learning 

is not magic. Machines cannot perform 

tasks outside what they are given or 

how they are trained.

Can a machine learn

incorrect information? 

PB: It can if the training data are 

wrong. Let’s say you give a machine 

an image of a cat and tell the machine 

it is actually a dog. It doesn’t have a 

way to learn the truth. But if you give a 

machine hundreds of cat images and 

10 are actually dogs, the algorithm 

will use the majority of the images 

to determine which is a cat and 

which is not.

Who is leading the field?

PB: Speaking of AI in general, 

several countries are taking this 

very seriously and are trying to lead 

the field. Of course, the United States 

is one of them. But let’s not forget that 

AI is already a part of our everyday 

life in the form of Siri and self-driving 

cars. As the technology improves, 

there will be infinite ways to use it to 

advance science, find new materials, 

create better drugs, and understand 

data from cosmology, for example. In 

fact, scientific experimentation has 

created so much data that humans 

could not possibly process all of it. 

Computers will sort it for us, using AI. 

Will Artificial Intelligence ever 

get to the point where humans 

won’t be able to tell the difference 

between AI and human thinking? 

PB: Let’s narrow the idea of “thinking” 

to simply problem solving. AI is already 

able to do this — and in some cases, to 

outperform humans. This is particularly 

true in the areas of language 

translation, image classification, 

palliative care, and radiology, where 

machines can solve problems with 

greater accuracy than humans. But 

when we look at general intelligence, 

there is no problem-solving algorithm 

that can perform well on all possible 

tasks. Humans cannot solve all 

problems, but we can solve many of 

them. It is for this reason that I don’t 

believe computers will ever overtake 

humans outside of specific, narrow 

tasks. So our fears here are misplaced. 

Nevertheless, AI has great potential 

to deliver impacts in a wide range of 

applications, from those that improve 

our quality of life to those that enhance 

our understanding of the universe. 

Prasanna Balaprakash is a computer 

scientist. His research interests include 

AI, machine learning, optimization, and 

high-performance computing.

PRASANNA BALAPRAKASH

Computer Scientist

HOW ADVANCED

 COULD ARTIFICIAL 

INTELLIGENCE

BECOME?

ASK A SCIENTIST

ARTICLE

44 ARGONNENOW
BY THE NUMBERS

ARGONNE WAKEFIELD ACCELERATOR FACILITY

The Argonne Wakefield Accelerator facility 

is building the capacity to reach accelerating 

gradients in the range of 200–300 MEV per 

meter and to dramatically improve the energy 

efficiency. Such progress could establish 

wakefield acceleration as a powerful scientific 

tool, with its smaller footprint and lower cost. Wakefields provide a high-energy 

boost to the trailing witness beam. 

Because wakefield acceleration 

can generate very intense fields, 

the energy increases rapidly 

over a short distance, with an 

acceleration gradient upward of

100 MEGA-ELECTRON-VOLTS 

(MEV) per meter.

TWO BEAMS are employed 

in wakefield acceleration. An 

electron DRIVE BEAM generates 

the wakefields, which are used to 

accelerate a second trailing beam, 

called the WITNESS BEAM.

Just like a boat leaving a wake behind 

it affects a skier behind the boat, ONE

ELECTRON BEAM moving through 

a conducting pipe generates an 

electromagnetic field that affects 

a trailing electron beam. THIS IS 

A WAKEFIELD.

1988

100

MEV

ARGONNE OUTLOUD

PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES

This year’s lecture series will highlight a variety of 

Argonne research activities that shed a bright light 

on challenges facing our evolving world and how 

science is helping to advance effective solutions.

June 16

THE SOIL BENEATH 

OUR FEET

Umakant Mishra

September 20

THE NEW ENERGY CRISIS: ENERGY 

INNOVATION IN A WORLD WHERE 

ENERGY IS CHEAP AND PLENTIFUL

John Carlisle

May 31

SCIENCE AND THE 

TRANSFORMATION 

OF CITIES

Ralph Muehleisen

July 12

NAVIGATING 

RISK DUE TO 

EXTREME EVENTS

Rao Kotamarthi 

REGISTER TO ATTEND: www.anl.gov/community/outloud

This effect was first demonstrated in 1988

(30 years ago), when J.B. Rosenzweig and 

Wei Gai, et al., first observed wakefield 

acceleration in a plasma at Argonne National 

Laboratory’s Advanced Accelerator Test Facility.
Argonne National Laboratory

9700 South Cass Avenue

Lemont, Illinois 60439 USA

www.anl.gov

NON-PROFIT ORG

US POSTAGE PAID

LEMONT, ILLINOIS

PERMIT NO. 87

ARGONNE

Massive stars play an important 

role in many astrophysical 

processes such as forming 

other stars and shaping the 

space between systems of stars 

within galaxies. Astronomers 

and cosmologists used 

supercomputers at the Argonne 

Leadership Computing Facility 

to model the radiation of a star 

envelope, shown here, that is 

80 times the mass of our own sun.

Image by Joseph Insley

ART OF SCIENCE

STAR POWER: 

PUSHING THE 

ENVELOPE