Office of Basic Energy Sciences

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Office of Science U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Basic Energy Sciences
Patricia M. Dehmer Associate Director of
Science for the Office of Basic Energy Sciences

• Materials Sciences

• Chemical Sciences

• Geosciences

• Biosciences

• Engineering Sciences

Serving the Present, Shaping the Future
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Excellence in Fundamental Research

• Excellent fundamental research produces new
  knowledge and ideas
• that change the way people think,
• that endure, and
• that are widely used by others.
• Research supported by the BES program is
  recognized as outstanding by peers and is widely
  used by other scientific disciplines, by the DOE
  technology offices, and by industry.

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Office of Basic Energy Sciences18 Scientific
User Facilities ( ) 1,400 Research Projects
200 Institutions ( )
Electron Microscopy Center for Materials Research
Advanced Photon Source
Intense Pulsed Neutron Source
Materials Preparation Center
National Synchrotron Light Source
Center for Microanalysis of Materials
High-Flux Beam Reactor
Advanced Light Source
Spallation Neutron Source
National Center for Electron Microscopy
Surface Modification Characterization Center
Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory
Shared Research Equipment Program
Combustion Research Facility
High-Flux Isotope Reactor
Los Alamos Neutron Science Center
Pulse Radiolysis Facility
James R. MacDonald Laboratory

• 4 Synchrotron Radiation Light Sources

• 5 High-Flux Neutron Sources

• 4 Electron Beam Microcharacterization Centers

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Office of Basic Energy SciencesA Tradition of
Excellence in Fundamental Research
Mission Foster and support fundamental research
to provide the basis for new, improved,
environmentally conscientious energy
technologies Plan, construct, and operate
major scientific user facilities and advance user
communities for researchers at universities,
national laboratories, and industrial
laboratories.

• Fundamental Tenets
• Excellence in fundamental research
• Relevance to the Nations energy future
• Stewardship to ensure stable, essential
• scientific communities, facilities, and
  institutions

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BES Program Goals

• Maintain U.S. world leadership in areas of the
  natural sciences and engineering that are
  relevant to energy resources, production,
  conversion, and efficiency and to the mitigation
  of the adverse impacts of energy production and
  use
• Foster and support the discovery, dissemination,
  and integration of the results of fundamental,
  innovative research in these areas
• Provide world-class scientific user facilities
  for the Nation and
• Act as a steward of human resources, essential
  scientific disciplines, institutions, and premier
  scientific user facilities.

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Highlights of Research Supported by BES
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Materials Sciences Division Condensed Matter
Physics Materials Chemistry Program
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Materials Sciences Division Metal and Ceramic
Sciences Program

• Synthesis and Processing Science
• High rate metal forming and superplastic forming
  of metals and ceramics
• Welding and joining processes for metals,
  ceramics, and dissimilar materials
• Assisted processes for controlled formation of
  thin films, modified surfaces, and interfaces
• Effects of processing on molecular structure,
  network topology, pore formation, crystallite
  growth, and sintering
• Predictive Theory, Simulation, and Modelling for
  cost-effective experimental guidance, design of
  experiments, alloy compositions, and materials
  processing
• Structural Characterization on Angstrom Scale of
  localized geometry of atomic structure, lattice
  defects, elemental composition, bond character,
  charge distribution, magnetic domain
  configurations, interfaces and boundaries in
  solids
• Mechanical and Physical Behavior
• Solid state diffusion and transport mechanisms
• Irradiation damage mechanisms, modelling, and
  minimization
• Surface reactivity including aqueous, galvanic,
  hot gaseous corrosion
• Superconducting behavior with focus on role of
  structure, defects, grain boundaries
• Magnetic energy loss mechanisms in hard and soft
  magnets
• Photovoltaic behavior with focus on recombination
  centers and interfaces
• Ordering, high temperature, and mechanical
  behavior of ordered intermetallic alloys
• Characterization of internal stress, crack
  nucleation, crack growth, and crack tip shielding

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Chemical Sciences Division Fundamental
Interactions Program

• To provide a fundamental understanding of
  energy-intensive
• processes from atomic physics to natural
  photosynthesis
• Atomic, Molecular, Chemical, and Optical Physics
• Spectroscopy, excited-state dynamics and decay
  processes, electron-nuclear coupling in atoms,
  molecules, free radicals, and highly charged ions
• Kinetics and mechanisms of energy and momentum
  transfer processes in collisions and in simple
  chemical reactions via experiment and theory
• Development of diagnostic capabilities through
  improved spectroscopic understanding in
  conjunction with state-of-the-art laser
  technology
• Nonlinear optical phenomena
• Combustion Phenomena
• Experimental and theoretical studies to enable
  extrapolation and interpolation of chemical
  reaction rates reliably at temperatures
  characteristic of combustion
• Development and testing of theories beyond RRKM
  to enable predictive capabilities in real
  combustion systems
• Thermodynamics of reaction systems
• Catalysis
• Dynamics and chemical reactions at cluster
  surfaces
• Chemical and physical properties of metal and
  semiconductor clusters
• Solar Energy Conversion
• Light-induced charge separation and electron
  transfer in solution and at interfaces
• Mechanistic and kinetic studies of transient
  species produced via pulsed radiolysis and other
  techniques
• Natural photosynthesis as an efficient model of
  energy conversion for artificial systems

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Chemical Sciences Division Molecular Processes
Program

• Understanding Chemical Processes at a Molecular
  Level
• New Heterogeneous Chemistry
• Extend to the molecular level our knowledge of
  reactions at oxide surfaces
• Structural and dynamic understanding of
  reactions underpinning catalysis
• Design of separation membranes based on
  molecular properties
• Combine membrane separations with catalysis to
  develop reactive separation
• systems
• Expand knowledge of interfacial chemistry from
  gas-solid to liquid-solid interfaces
• Expand our knowledge of ionic transport and of
  diffuse double layers to maximize battery
  efficiency
• New Homogeneous Phase Chemistries
• Extend homogeneous catalytic chemistry to water
  based systems
• Extend our understanding of heavy element
  chemistry in the aqueous systems relevant to
  environmental concerns
• Explore the unique coordination chemistry of the
  actinides in catalysis and organometallics
• Expand the chemical basis for cleanup options
  associated with actinides at high pH
• Extend our knowledge of thermophysical
  properties to allow their prediction from
  molecular properties
• New chemical principles for building extended
  networks from molecules

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Engineering and Geosciences Division Engineering
Program

• Mechanical Sciences
• Basics of fracture mechanics
• Continuum mechanics
• Multiphase flow instrumentation and theory
• Foundations of fluid mechanics
• Foundations of heat transfer
• Foundations of nanoscale engineering
• Metabolic engineering
• System Sciences, Control and Instrumentation
• Control and explolitation of chaotic processes
• Chemical process control
• Industrial processes control and diagnostics
• Foundations of autonomous systems and sensor
  fusion in smart systems
• Biochemical sensors for process control
• Data and Engineering Analysis
• Bioengineering-chemical engineering interface
• Nonlinear waves and nonlinear processes

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Engineering and Geosciences Division Geosciences
Program

• Develop the foundation for efficient, effective,
  and environmentally sound use of energy resources
  derived from the Earth.
• Geochemistry of Mineral-Fluid Interactions
• Rates and mechanisms of reaction at the
  atomistic/molecular scale
• Flow and reaction in porous and fractured rocks
• Fluid transport in large-scale geologic
  structures
• Geophysical Interrogation of the Earths Crust
• Indirect determination of geologic structure and
  rock properties
• Collection and analysis of seismic and
  electromagnetic data
• Geophysical signatures of fluids and
  fluid-bearing reservoirs
• Basic Properties of Rocks, Minerals, and
  Fluids
• Multi-phase, heterogeneous, anisotropic systems
• Physical, chemical, mechanical
• Rock deformation, flow, fracture, and failure
• Provide support for current and future
  energy/environmental technologies.

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Energy Biosciences Division

Obtain the fundamental knowledge necessary to
develop future energy-related biotechnologies
by supporting research in Plant Science
Structure and function of the plant cell wall
(cellulose, lignin, hemicellulose, and
protein) Biophysical and biochemical
mechanisms of photosynthesis Plant primary and
secondary metabolism Genetic and biochemical
mechanisms of plant growth and development
Bioenergetics, ion uptake, and other
membrane-related phenomena Arabidopsis
sequencing efforts Functional plant genomics
Fermentation Microbiology Bioenergetics and
metabolic properties of anaerobic microbes
Degradation of lignin, cellulose, and
hemicellulose Biochemistry, genetics, and
physiology of microbes that metabolize one
and two carbon compounds Mechanisms of plant
symbiotic and pathogenic interactions
Functional microbial genomics Extremophilic
Organisms Biochemistry, genetics and
physiology of hyperthermophilic microbes
Biological mechanisms of adaptation to
extremes of temperature, salt, pH, etc.
Metabolism of inorganic compounds
Biomaterials and Biocatalysis Biosynthesis
of novel materials Catalytic
antibodies Detailed structural, kinetic, and
biophysical characterization of energy
related enzymes
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Office of Basic Energy SciencesA Tradition of
Excellence in Fundamental Research

• 1,400 Peer-Reviewed Research Projects

• 200 Research Institutions

• 18 National User Facilities