Projects

Visualizing the three-dimensional organization of biopolymers within the plant root-matrix to understand the physiology and decomposability of roots

Lead Institution

Clemson University

Principal Investigator

Nishanth Tharayil Santhakumar

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Plant roots contribute to a majority of carbon stored in soils. However, we still lack the parameters that can accurately forecast root decomposability, which hinders our ability to predict future…

Identification and Quantification of Active Bacterial Monooxygenases in Environmental Samples Using Activity-Based Protein Profiling (ABPP)

Lead Institution

North Carolina State University

Principal Investigator

Michael Hyman

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Bacterial monooxygenases are enzymes the initiate the aerobic biodegradation of a wide variety of environmentally important chemicals. These include key intermediates in the biogeochemical cycles of…

Probing the Mesoscale Structure of Complex Electrode-Electrolyte Interfaces

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Vijayakumar Murugesan

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Molecular interactions at electrode-electrolyte interface are pivotal to the modern energy storage/conversion and microelectronic devices. However, our predictive level understanding about the…

Sea spray aerosol: Composition, formation, evolution and properties

Lead Institution

University of Iowa

Principal Investigator

Vicki Grassian

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Here we propose to use the Department of Energy's EMSL facility to study the chemical composition and heterogeneous chemistry of sea spray aerosol which is a complex mixture of salt, biological…

Structural and functional analyses of multi-protein complexes regulating genotype to phenotype translations in plants

Lead Institution

Indiana University - Bloomington

Principal Investigator

Craig Pikaard

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

DNA-dependent RNA polymerases decode genetic information stored in DNA by converting the information into RNA. This enzymatic activity, known as transcription, is a critical step in the process by…

Investigation on Electrode/Electrolyte Interphase Reactions in Rechargeable Metal-Oxygen Batteries

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Wu Xu

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The objective of this proposal is to understand the reactions occurring at the electrode/electrolyte interphases in two metal-oxygen batteries, more specifically the interphases of lithium…

Shape, Structure, and Chemical Analysis of Mineral Dust Aerosol and Its Impact on IN activity

Lead Institution

University of Iowa

Principal Investigator

Vicki Grassian

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

A significant amount of atmospheric aerosol particles are aspherical, with complex shapes and morphological distributions of chemical components. This can greatly affect their climate relevant…

Carbon Dynamics across an Urban to Wildland interface in Subtropical, Central Florida

Lead Institution

University of Central Florida

Principal Investigator

Charles Hinkle

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Urban centers are a major global source of fossil-fuel emissions, and consequently a large source of carbon (C) to the atmosphere. Understanding the impact of urbanization on C cycling, is therefore…

Understanding Microbial Catabolism of Arctic Soil Organic Matter and Its Degradation Pathways: Identifying Precursors to Small Organic Acids

Lead Institution

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Baohua Gu

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

This user proposal aims to identify the specific components of Arctic soil organic matter (SOM) that are consumed during warming experiments in the laboratory and during the thaw season at the Barrow…

Functional Components of Plant Resistance to Fungi

Lead Institution

Rice University

Principal Investigator

Janet Braam

Project type

Exploratory Research

Recent research has led to new insights into the importance of spatial aspects of jasmonate-mediated plant defense and fungal resistance, including organ-specific resistance as a gate-keeper for…

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…

Plant Biotic Defense Dynamics

Lead Institution

Rice University

Principal Investigator

Janet Braam

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Plant survival strategies include balancing resource allocation to growth versus defense against biotic stress. Despite the importance of this balance for plant productivity, measured as biomass and…

Pre-equilibrium in-situ solvated ion/molecular adsorption processes and events on solid substrates in aqueous environments: Adsorption discretization, surface adsorption waves and repulsive forces

Lead Institution

Guangzhou University

Principal Investigator

Mario Gomez

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

The purpose of the proposed work is to image and analyze chemically at the micro-nano scale pre-equilibrium adsorption processes and events hypothesized to occur (adsorption discretization, surface…

Computational Studies of Catalyzed Chemical Transformations of Biomass-Derived Intermediates

Lead Institution

University of Alabama

Principal Investigator

David Dixon

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

There is a critical need to develop new, renewable sources of energy as well as feedstocks for the chemical industry. Biomass is a carbon neutral source of energy and can also address issues related…

In Situ and Ex Situ NMR Investigation of the Electrochemistry in Lithium Batteries

Lead Institution

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Principal Investigator

Jian-zhi Hu

Project type

Large-Scale EMSL Research

Li-metal is an ideal anode material for rechargeable batteries. However, dendritic Li growth and limited Coulombic efficiency (CE) during repeated Li deposition/stripping processes have prevented the…