EMSL Research Campaigns
To accelerate scientific progress in areas of high importance to DOE and the nation, EMSL launched a new concept for user proposals in 2010. Envisioned as multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary projects with scope beyond those of normal EMSL user projects, research campaigns were conceived as a means to focus EMSL research on specific scientific questions to help fulfill the EMSL strategic vision "to develop and integrate, for use by the scientific community, world-leading capabilities that transform understanding in the environmental molecular sciences and accelerate discoveries relevant to DOE's missions." The goal of Research Campaigns is to have EMSL scientists and users develop and work on the same projects in the effort to accelerate progress and increase impact by focusing user research, EMSL resources, and joined expertise in those areas. Research Campaigns are expected to take different forms and have varying sizes depending on the science area and nature of what is needed for advancement. Some campaigns might be technique oriented while others will address specific science questions.
To integrate this new research format into the User Program, EMSL developed a three-phase approach. Because of the importance to EMSL of capability integration and multi-capability approaches to research, first-generation Research Campaigns were focused primarily on developing new linkages of capabilities. A call for concept papers was issued in 2010 for projects that would exploit multi-technologies and data integration capabilities to significantly advance understanding of specific scientific problems in either biology or the interfacial sciences. Second and later generations of Campaigns center around assembling multi-institutional teams to focus on critical scientific issues or challenges. Initial ideas for second-generation Campaigns were proposed by EMSL users, EMSL Science Theme Advisory Panels, and members of the Science Advisory Committee, and were further developed through small workshops with EMSL staff and users. The nature of second-generation Campaigns reflects a true collaborative-team effort with each of the participating institutions focusing their current research activities toward the objective of achieving a research impact beyond what each group could individually achieve.
The featured Research Campaign summaries provide descriptions of active or completed projects.
2012
Development of Solute Transport Data Sets for Benchmarking Pore-Scale Numerical Simulators
Mart Oostrom1, Changyong Zhang1, Thomas Wietsma2.
1Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate, PNNL, 2Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, PNNL.
Use of synthetic biology to probe molecular machines in photosynthesis
Himadri Pakrasi1, Louis Sherman2, Rajeev Aurora3, David Koppenaal4, Scott Baker4, Ljiljana Pasa-Tolic4, Richard D. Smith5, Alice Dohnalkova4, Galya Orr4, Jason McDermott5.
1Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, 2Biological Sciences, Purdue University, 3St. Louis University, 4Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, PNNL, 5Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate, PNNL.
The Plant-Soil Interface: Understanding Dynamic Interactions in the Context of Environmental Change
Gary Stacey1, Ljlijana Pasa-Tolic,2, Himadri Pakrasi3, David Hoyt2, Alice Dohnalkova2, Galya Orr2, Susannah Tringe4, Michael Sadowsky5, Richard Ferrieri6, A. Scott Lea,2 Lye Meng Markillie7.
1Division of Biochemistry, University of Missouri - Columbia, 2Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, PNNL, 3Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis, 4Metagenome Program, Joint Genome Institute, 5Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, University of Minnesota, 6Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 7Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate, PNNL.
2011
An Integrated Multi-Capability Approach for Analysis of Catalytic Systems
Charles Peden,1 Enrique Iglesia,2 James Kubicki,3 Jian Zhi Hu,1 Ja Hun Kwak,1 Yong Wang,1 Donghai Mei,1 Karl Mueller,4 David Hoyt,4 Nancy Washton,4 Sarah D. Burton,4 Jesse A. Sears,4 Hardeep Mehta,4 Niri Govind,4 Eric Bylaska,4 and Amity Andersen.4
1Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate, PNNL; 2Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley; 3Department of Geosciences, Penn State University; 4Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, PNNL.
Making Isoprene from Biomass Material using Bacillus Species
Birgitte Ahring1, Bryan Lingge2, Becky Hess1,3, Junfeng Xue1, Ron Taylor4, H. Steven Wiley2.
1Center for Bioproducts and Bioenergy, Washington State University Tri-Cities, 2Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, PNNL, 3National Security Directorate, PNNL, 4Fundamental and Computational Sciences Directorate, PNNL.
