IDREAM Meeting Nets Insights and Ideas

February 1, 2018

Staff Accomplishment

IDREAM Meeting Nets Insights and Ideas

PNNL scientists brainstormed with peers from Georgia Institute of Technology, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Notre Dame, University of Washington, and Washington State University

The IDREAM Leadership Team, here at the all-hands meeting at PNNL in January, includes multi-institute representation. In the front row from left are Jaehun Chun, PNNL; Jay La Verne, University of Notre Dame; Sue Clark, PNNL; Aurora Clark, Washington State University; and Carolyn Pearce, PNNL. Back row, from left, are Andrew Stack, Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Greg Schenter and Greg Kimmel of PNNL; Xiaosong Li, University of Washington; and Kevin Rosso, PNNL

The IDREAM center’s latest all-hands meeting with its advisory committee produced feedback and information that will help IDREAM leaders chart the center’s future course and prepare for a mid-year review with the U.S. Department of Energy.

IDREAM—or Interfacial Dynamics in Radioactive Environments and Materials—is a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center. Sue Clark, Chief Science and Technology Officer for PNNL’s Energy and Environment Directorate (EED), directs IDREAM (Offsite link) , which involves PNNL and five other institutions. Another EED staff member, Carolyn Pearce, leads one of the center’s five research goals.

Clark views the all-hands meetings as important for both IDREAM and its researchers.

"We definitely benefit from the constructive comments we receive from our advisory committee," she said. "And within IDREAM, we benefit tremendously from the energy and enthusiasm exhibited by team members, especially our early-career scientists."

During the all-hands meeting—held in January at PNNL in Richland, WA—researchers and advisors discussed how the center is answering tough questions about complex radioactive environments. Scientists from PNNL, Georgia Institute of Technology, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Notre Dame, University of Washington, and Washington State University presented their research and shared ideas.

In addition to presentations, the meeting featured a poster session and an early-career dinner that brought together IDREAM’s team of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, many of whom had never met in person before.

IDREAM is funded by the Basic Energy Sciences program in DOE’s Office of Science.