Projects

As a scientific user facility, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) provides expertise, instrumentation, and resources to 250 projects each year.

EMSL projects displayed on the EMSL web site project page reflect project abstracts and information migrated to this page before April 30, 2024. To review current and past EMSL user projects, visit EMSL Science Central.™

Impact of phenazine-1-carboxylic acid upon biofilm development, Fe speciation, and the fate of microbial biomass in the rhizosphere of dryland and irrigated wheat

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Matthew Marshall

Project type

Exploratory Research

Rhizobacterial biofilms are a major sink for plant-derived carbon, and a major source for microbially-derived soil organic matter (SOM). Bacteria residing within biofilm matrices, which restrict…

Coking- and sintering-resistant surface-mounted sub-nano cluster catalysts of endothermic cooling

Lead Institution

University of California, Los Angeles

Principal Investigator

Anastassia Alexandrova

Project type

Exploratory Research

The ultimate objective of the proposed research is understanding and design of novel catalytic surfaces based on sub-nano surface-deposited clusters, with a particular application to dehydrogenation…

Impact of natural organic matter on U speciation and mobility in groundwater

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

John Bargar

Project type

Exploratory Research

Uranium (U) contamination of aquifers is a persistent problem at DOE legacy ore processing sites and, contrary to initial predictions, many plumes are not attenuating with natural groundwater…

X-ray tomography to incorporate redox conditions into soil carbon turnover models

Lead Institution

Oregon State University

Principal Investigator

Markus Kleber

Project type

Exploratory Research

We suggest that X-ray tomography can be successfully employed to generate numerical values of a) total pore space, b) pore geometry, c) pore size distribution and d) pore connectivity at relevant…

Characterization of chemisorption products from CO2 and amine bearing polymers via solid-state NMR

Lead Institution

Washington University in St. Louis

Principal Investigator

Sophia Hayes

Project type

Exploratory Research

The objective of this proposed work is to characterize the chemisorption products of CO2 interacting with solid-supported amine materials. The aim is to use these materials to capture CO2 from flue…

First-Principles Calculations of Excited-State Processes in Scintillator Materials

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Sebastien Kerisit

Project type

Exploratory Research

The objective of the proposed research is to enhance our understanding of and ability to simulate excited states in wide-bandgap materials with the specific goal of predicting the luminescence…

Molecular characterization of dissolved organic matter components facilitating the transport and transformation of mercury

Lead Institution

Syracuse University

Principal Investigator

Charles Driscoll

Project type

Exploratory Research

Browning of surface water has been observed across the northeastern United States and northern Europe. This trend has generally been attributed to increases in dissolved organic matter following the…

Oxidation of lead sulfide surfaces in the presence of phosphate: nanoparticle formation.

Lead Institution

Georgia Institute of Technology

Principal Investigator

Andrew Stack

Project type

Exploratory Research

The understanding of galena (PbS) oxidation in the presence of phosphate containing solutions is important because lead contaminated soils and mine wastes are often treated with phosphate as a…

TEM and SEM investigation of non-pathogenic bacterial cultures.

Lead Institution

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Alice Dohnalkova

Project type

Exploratory Research

Trasmission and scanning electron microscopy is a key element in investigations of the morphology and reduction products that occur during exposure of bacteria to various experimental environments…

Variable temperature XRD studies of Ge/SiO2/Si system

Lead Institution

Motorola

Principal Investigator

Yong Liang

Project type

Exploratory Research

This user proposal focuses on using the variable temperature X-ray diffraction capability in EMSL to investigate temperature dependent lattice parameters of a semiconductor system. Specifically, we…

Observations of Scytonema-colonized and
non-colonized fiber cement roofing shingles.

Lead Institution

Lab/Cor, Inc.

Principal Investigator

Barbara Reine

Project type

Exploratory Research

Fiber cement roofing shingles colonized with Scytonema sp. and other cyanobacteria are failing. One mechanism proposed to explain the observed deterioration is the breakdown of the cementicious…

Single particle analysis of smoke aerosols during the Summer 2002 Yosemite Aerosol Characterization Study

Lead Institution

Colorado State University

Principal Investigator

Jenny Hand

Project type

Exploratory Research

The role of smoke aerosols from biomass burning in visibility degradation is poorly understood because few studies exist that have fully characterized their physical, optical, chemical and…

Microbial membrane features and metabolic pathways in deep fractured shale systems

Lead Institution

University of New Hampshire

Principal Investigator

Paula Mouser

Project type

Exploratory Research

Humans are currently engineering the deep subsurface at unprecedented scales for the purposes of energy-capture technologies, energy-storage capabilities, and environmental mitigation strategies. To…

Intercellular Vesicular Communication in Plants

Lead Institution

Rice University

Principal Investigator

Janet Braam

Project type

Exploratory Research

Exosomes are powerful vehicles for local, distal and even transpecies cell-to-cell communication in diverse eukaryotes, but whether plant extracellular vesicles can act similarly to exosomes…

Soil organic phosphorus: speciation, abundance, and ecosystem implications in a changing climate

Lead Institution

University of California, Merced

Principal Investigator

Asmeret Berhe

Project type

Exploratory Research

Soil organic phosphorus (P) has been identified as a pivotal component of bioavailable P, especially in late stages of ecosystem development. Organic P turnover rate is affected by the stabilization…

Experimental validation of a central carbon metabolic model in Aspergillus niger to enable metabolic engineering of this fungal cell factory

Lead Institution

Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute

Principal Investigator

Ronald de Vries

Project type

Exploratory Research

Sugar conversion through central carbon catabolism in filamentous fungi is a complex progress that involves many pathways. During growth on plant biomass, multiple 5- and 6-carbon monomeric sugars…

Understanding ice nucleating particles associated with agricultural soils

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Susannah Burrows

Project type

Exploratory Research

The atmospheric concentration of ice-nucleating particles (INPs) impacts the formation and development of cloud ice crystals, affecting cloud radiative properties and precipitation. However,…

Tracking substrate uptake and mRNA expression of aerobic methane-producing bacteria in pelagic waters of Yellowstone Lake

Lead Institution

Montana State University

Principal Investigator

Tim McDermott

Project type

Exploratory Research

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and understanding its sources and sinks is a core goal of the EMSL and DOE mission. Biological methane production is traditionally viewed as a process that can only…

Computational Studies of Nanoparticle Formation Leading to Mineralization and ab initio Thermodynamics Studies of Minerals

Lead Institution

University of Alabama

Principal Investigator

David Dixon

Project type

Exploratory Research

There is a critical need to develop an understanding of nanoparticle and mineral formation in systems that contain H2O, metal ions and CO2 as carbonation and hydrolysis reactions are important for…

Reactivity of Soil Organic Carbon with Minerals under Low Water Conditions

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

John Loring

Project type

Exploratory Research

The manner in which soil organic carbon (SOC) binds to and reacts with mineral surfaces affects SOC (bio)degradation, SOC mobility, soil wettability, mineral dissolution, and the bioavailability of…

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